Egypt and #al-Qaida, the prospect
▻http://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/al-qaidas-idea-three-years-on
... a resurgence of more radical Islamist groups is already evident. Their violent activities include a car-bomb attack at the gates of the security headquarters in Cairo, the assassination of a senior interior-ministry official, and the shooting down of a military helicopter in Sinai.
The last incident may be particularly significant. The #missile used to destroy the helicopter was initially believed to be a basic weapon, many of which such originate in Libya; but it is now identified as a more sophisticated Russian SA-16 Gimlet with a combined IR/UV homing system. This SA-16 missile is more likely to have originated from jihadist cells in Syria rather than Libya, suggesting a link between radical groups in Sinai and their co-believers to the north. The context is a reported increase in the numbers of Egyptians fighting with the more radical Islamist groups in Syria.
