Egypt more insecure as ABM vows allegiance to IS

Egyptian anti-government militants have brought the ghost of the Islamic State (IS) from Iraq and Syria to Egypt as Sinai-based, al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al- Maqdis (ABM) group has recently sworn allegiance to the IS, Egyptian experts said.

In an audio statement on their social media account, the ABM announced on Monday its loyalty to the IS and pledged allegiance with IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The move comes while the Egyptian security forces are launching a massive security crackdown on militants in the Sinai Peninsula and the U.S.-led international alliance is launching anti-IS attacks in Syria and Iraq.

"This change by this step will be extremely dangerous, as a local terror group like ABM starts to adopt the agenda of the IS that may lead the latter to provide the ABM with funds, weapons and foreign elements," said Abdel-Rahim Ali, researcher of domestic and international terrorism and chairman of Arab Center for Research and Studies.

Anti-government attacks have risen in Sinai and extended to other parts across the country, including the capital Cairo, since the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July 2013 and the following massive security crackdown on his supporters that left around 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

Most of the attacks against security men and premises have been claimed by the ABM and its rising fellow Ajnad Misr.

On Sunday evening, a car bomb went off after being targeted by security forces in North Sinai's Arish city, leaving three women and two children badly injured.

The expert warned that the ABM activities could develop to target civilians and Coptic minority in Egypt just as the mother IS group does abroad "to cause domestic sectarian strife in Egypt and incur international disapproval."

Following the ABM statement, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said her country will have to "assess" the implications of the ABM swearing allegiance to the IS "whether the sworn allegiance means affiliation, whether it means action, whether it means they are joining the effort."

Ali told Xinhua that the ABM announcement might pressure Egypt to coordinate with the U.S.-led international anti-terror alliance and deal with foreign intelligence apparatuses "for having IS affiliates on its soil," noting the country has always rejected foreign military interference in Iraq and Syria.

Some experts believe that the ABM swearing loyalty to the IS might benefit the Sinai-based group that needs assistance under the ongoing massive crackdown, but could also harm the group in many ways.

"The ABM has joined a terrorist organization fought against by about 70 states around the world, and so the relevant UN Security Council resolutions against the IS will be applied to them," Kamal Habib, expert and researcher on Islamist groups, told Xinhua.

Habib added that the group will lose its identity as an Egyptian group and so it will lose some of its supporters. "Now the group has become a branch of a globalized organization and its members will be looked at as traitors of the nation."

The expert echoed Ali's view that Egypt has to change its strategy in dealing with the ABM as it is no longer seen as a local terrorist group.

"The October attack that killed over 30 Sinai soldiers showed a qualitative change in the performance of the ABM and that it has already become an IS affiliate even without announcement," Habib added.

Despite the concerns accompanied the ABM announcement, some security experts downplayed the move and said that security forces deal with militant groups strictly regardless of their names and affiliations.

"The step done by the ABM has no significance, as changing names does not mean anything on the ground; they are all terrorist organizations after all that are confronted firmly and decisively by the state regardless of their names," said retired Gen. Sameh Seif al-Yazal, head of Al-Gomhuria Center for Security Studies.

Yazal reassured that the ABM announcement is not likely to bring IS foreign loyalists to get involved in attacks in Egypt, stressing that the Egyptian authorities are very cautious about that and they monitor the entry to Egypt very well, whether from foreigners or Egyptians. Enditem