By ASHRAF SWEILLAM
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; 4:56 PM
EL-ARISH, Egypt -- The leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group wanted for last month's bombings at a Red Sea resort was killed in a gunbattle Tuesday in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula.
Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi was the seventh suspected extremist killed by Egyptian security forces since a massive sweep was launched in the Sinai following three bombings in Dahab that killed 21 people on April 24.
El-Mallahi was killed in a half-hour gunbattle after security forces surrounded him in an olive grove in el-Karama district, south of el-Arish, the main town in the northern Sinai, said the commander of North Sinai security, Lt. Gen. Essam el-Sheik.
An accomplice, Mohammed Abdullah Abu Grair, was captured after running out of ammunition, and police found automatic rifles and hand grenades at the scene, el-Sheik said.
The Dahab blast was the third major attack on Sinai resorts in the past two years, bombings that have killed a total of 120 people. Egyptian authorities have said all the attacks were carried out by a group calling itself Monotheism and Jihad, led by el-Mallahi.
"This is a major blow to the terrorist group," el-Sheik said. Hundreds of security officers were seen celebrating in front of the security police headquarters Tuesday, chanting "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great.
The Interior Ministry congratulated the police in a statement that described el-Mallahi as "the mastermind and leader of the group that carried out the Dahab and el-Gorah explosions" _ a reference to an attack by suicide bombers on April 26 against vehicles of the Egyptian police and the international peacekeeping force in the Sinai. The bombers were killed but caused no other casualties.
Tuesday's killing came a day after Israel warned its citizens to stay away from the Sinai, a popular destination for Israeli tourists, because of an "increased threat of kidnapping."
Israeli officials and some terror experts have said the perpetrators of the Sinai bombings _ including the October 2004 bombings in Taba and Ras Shitan and the July 2005 attack in Sharm el-Sheik _ were linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
Egyptian authorities are at pains to say the attacks were the work of local groups that have no ties to outside terrorist organizations, apparently concerned about damaging the tourism industry. Tourism is a major source of Egypt's foreign exchange, earning $6.4 billion last year.
The name Monotheism and Jihad has been used by a number of terror groups believed to be inspired by al-Qaida. In a claim of responsibility issued after the Sharm bombings, a group using that name said it was acting on orders from bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman Zawahri, who has denounced the Egyptian government as un-Islamic.
But it is not known to what extent the perpetrators of the Sinai attacks are in contact with al-Qaida's leadership or receive funding, training or weapons from the terror network.
The leader of the Iraqi version of Monotheism and Jihad, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, changed the name of his group to al-Qaida in Iraq after swearing allegiance to bin Laden. However, he is not believed to carry out attacks on the specific orders of bin Laden.
Egypt has launched sweeps in the Sinai in the wake of each of the resort bombings, arresting hundreds. Fifteen militants are on trial for the Taba and Ras Shitan blasts. Six suspected militants have been killed in a series of gunbattles in the Sinai since the Dahab attack.
El-Mallahi's father, Khamis el-Mallahi, said his son had fled the family home soon after the Taba attack.
"He was a life-loving kid, he did not pray until 2002, when he started hanging out with the Islamists," he told The Associated Press.