Analysis: Qaeda threat to Egypt may stir militants
Wed,
Nov 3 2010
By Sarah Mikhail and Marwa Awad
CAIRO (Reuters) - Militants may feel emboldened by an al Qaeda threat against Egypt's Christians, even if the network itself might struggle to mount such an assault.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, which launched an attack on a Baghdad church on Sunday that left 52 dead, has also threatened Egypt's church.
While there are no signs of a re-emergence of a 1990s-style Islamist insurgency, Egypt remains alert to anything that could stir communal tension that sometimes boils up over issues such as cross-faith relationships and conversions.
Egypt crushed a militant uprising in the 1990s and that experience should help it counter any new threat, Christians and Muslims said.
Egyptian authorities were quick to condemn the al Qaeda threat and to boost security at churches in the country, where Christians make up 10 percent of the 78 million people, the biggest Christian population in the Middle East.
"This threat is not directed only at Christians but at the Egyptian state. Egypt's security ended terrorism in the 1990s and it is capable today of eradicating these threats," said Father Abdel Maseeh Baseet of the Coptic Orthodox church, the biggest Christian community in Egypt.
The Iraq attack was against a Catholic church. The Egypt threat was directed against the Orthodox community - al Qaeda accused it of detaining two women converts to Islam.
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Instead, he said it might be taken up by followers of the strict Salafi school of Islam, who have been vocal critics of the Coptic church in the conversion row.
Orthodox Bishop Morkos of Shubra al-Khaima in Cairo echoed the comments: "The (Iraqi) massacre will not lead to a rise in sectarian strife in Egypt but it could catalyze dangerous attempts by extremists."
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