Egypt questions suspects of new militant group

(AP) — Egyptian prosecutors are questioning 25 people suspected of forming a new Islamic militant group to carry out attacks inside the country, a security official and a lawyer said Sunday.

The group was planning to attack U.S. ships in the Suez Canal and the tomb of revered Jewish holy man Abu Hatzira in the Nile Delta, according to Egypt's independent Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Quoting security officials, the paper reported that the group was also planning to ship weapons and explosives to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza for use in their rockets.

The 25 Egyptians were arrested in November on charges of stockpiling weapons and explosives to be used in "attacks against targets inside Egypt," a security official told The Associated Press. They were arrested in Mansoura, northeast of Cairo.

The official and the lawyer both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

"They are accused of forming a new Islamic militant group based on ideas of Sayyid Qutb," the lawyer said, referring to an Egyptian ideologue executed in 1966 whose ideas provide much of the intellectual basis for today's militant groups.

The report in Al-Masry Al-Youm said some of the suspects received training in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

Egyptian security forces have recently reported the arrests of members of several new militant groups looking to carry out attacks against Egyptian and foreign targets, including U.S. and Israeli interests.