A run-down of terrorism in Egypt

Nour Youssef has been trying to compile a comprehensive list of terrorist attacks reported in the Egyptian press. The problem, as she notes, is that "they keep publishing the same story under different titles, sometimes lumping a couple incidents together, throwing in an update (without saying it is an update), picking up a detail and sensationalizing it -- or all of the above. The result is a flood of bad news that overwhelms readers." After the jump, our list of reported attacks, in rough chronological order -- and some jihadist videos set to really annoying music. 

Sinai:

• In Arish, masked men fired at the State Radio's building and a bomb caused serious damage to a mosque in al-Masoura Square. Aug. 22

• On the 26th of August, there was 9 failed terrorist attacks in one day. They arrested suspects, half of them were by Palestinians.

• Two terrorists died while planting a bomb on the Sheikh Zuweid road targetting military’s armored vehicles. Another died in his own car explosion while driving away from a checkpoint he had just attacked. Oct. 7

• Another bomb on the Sheikh Zuweid road. No injuries. Oct. 7

• Bomb by side of Arish-Rafah International Road. Four CSF recruits injured yesterday morning. In a different article, published today, Ahram reports another bombing in the same place, but says there are no injuries and mentions another bomb going off in a place called Sidot or Sadot (they didn’t settle on a spelling) between Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah. In a another article, also today, they mention the injuries of 10 recruits in another attack, which they say is the second attack on soldiers in 12 hours, near the place with the changing name on the same road.  

• At least two were killed and 48 injured in a massive  explosions targeting security headquarters in the southern Sinai town of Al-Tor. Oct. 7

Giza:

• Explosion near Egypt Gas lines in Kerdasa. No injuries. (Good chance it was just regular violence, Kerdasa is not the calmest of areas). Oct. 3

• Someone put a homemade bomb next to a hotel in Mohandeseen, near a Omar Effendy. It didn’t go off. Oct. 3

• An attempt to blow up the Gasco gas line in el-Maryoutyah results in the explosion of a communications room. And someone threw a bomb under a tank in Mohandeseen’s Sphinx square. No human casualties. Oct. 7

Ismailia:

• Bomb thrown under police van parked in front of a police department. No injuries. Oct. 7

• Car without numbers plates attacks soldiers, killing four.  English Ahram says 6 dead. Oct. 7

Cairo:

• Two more failures,  at Shubra’s police department and another at the Nile Health Insurance Hospital. Both found in black plastic bags and defused. August 14.
•  The attack on the Nozha traffic police point that left three dead. August 30

• Failed assassination of the interior minister. Sept. 5

• The attack on Boulaq's police station, which was denied by State TV's correspondent, then reported and then denied half an hour before it happened, then reported again. "When we denied this report in the 12 (o'clock) news, there really was nothing. This incident took place at 12:30 exactly," the correspondent said as if that didn't violate common sense.  He added that the bomb was just a box of shoe polish and some gunpowder and didn't hit the actual station. Sept. 7

• Police defused a subway bomb between Helmiat al-Zaytoun and Hadiqa al-Zaytoun stations. Sept. 19
• Unknown person throws homemade bomb at the police when latter tried to break up a fight in Shubra. Sept. 26

•  Bomb defused in front to the Embaba police station Sept. 27
•  Bomb defused on Abbas bridge Sept. 27

•  Bomb next to the National Bank in Old Cairo, it didn’t go off and the bombers were caught. Articles everywhere took care to note that it was next to a high school called Amr ibn al-Aas, where pro-MB marches took place. Sep. 28

•  Bomb defused in 10th of Ramadan Oct. 6
• 51 bombs found in Shubra (an army source tells El-Dostour) Oct. 6
• RPJ fired at a telecom facility in Maadi.  No injuries. Oct. 7

CBC Television also reported today that a bomb was found in a billboard in Mohandiseen. With the exception of Sinai -- and that is a big exception -- and the car-bomb attack on the Minister of Interior, the terrorist attacks in Cairo and elsewhere have rarely been deadly. Most of the reports concern home-made bombs that are either defused or never go off. So far, a lot of the terrorists in Egypt seem to be kind of amateurs -- and the police seem to be kind of lucky. That said, the video below is the first Egyptian jihadist video I've seen. In it, a group calling itself Kataaib El Farqan (Battalions of the Koran) takes credit for the "liquidation" of an "apostate" army officer (whose car they strife in a drive-by shooting). They claim this is retaliation for the killings at Rabba, Nahda, Dalga, etc. 

The video below, from the same group (and found on Wael Abbas' blog) shows the attack on the satellite dishes in Maadi.  

حصري : فيديو لإستهداف القمر الصناعي بالمعادي وبيان مرفق من كتائب الفرقان تتبني العملية