Egypt police foil terrorist plot on embassy
Egypt’s interior minister said police arrested members of an Al-Qaeda-linked cell that plotted to carry out a suicide bombing against a Western embassy and other targets in the country.
Egypt police arrested three members of an Al Quada-linked cell who were planning a suicide bombing on a foreign embassy.
The country's interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, said Saturday "police have delivered a successful blow against a terror cell plotting suicide bomb attacks," AFP reported.
Ibrahim said at a press conference the attack was in its final stages, but he would not identify the embassy. Other sites were also being targeted.
"The Interior Ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a terrorist cell that was planning suicide operations against vital, important and foreign facilities in the country," he said, Reuters reported.
Ibrahim said one of the men had been a member of al Qaeda in Algeria and he had travelled to Pakistan and Iran for training.
He said three men, described as jihadists, were arrested with 22lbs of explosive material, a computer with files containing information on bomb-making and a flash memory with instructions on how to construct rockets.
The militants had been in contact with an Al-Qaeda leader outside Egypt, BBC News reported.
Mr Ibrahim gave the names of three men and said they were planning attacks in both Cairo and Alexandria.