A video confession aired during today’s press conference had one of the Ansar al Sharia members saying he had been tasked by Abu Abdullah of Ansar Jerusalem to form the new group.

According to the group, its fighters targeted 28 security personnel in three of Egypt’s governorates. A group under the same name appeared in early March with a founding statement.
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A group calling itself Ansar al Sharia Egypt has announced its formation in the Sinai and has threatened violence in the wake of recent events. It is not clear if the organization is truly a new front, or simply a covert part of an already established group with the same name.

Mohammed al Zawahiri and two of his Egyptian jihadist allies have issued a statement criticizing the Democratic Jihad Party. “Jihad and Democracy are opposites and don’t mix,” they say.

Jihadist social media sites are asking supporters to pray for Abdullah Azzam al Qahtani, an al Qaeda in Iraq leader who admittedly proposed an attack against the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Al Qahtani, the sites say, was scheduled to be executed inside Iraq this week.

The Ansar al Sharia Facebook pages analyzed by The Long War Journal contain valuable information, in addition to bluster. Two Facebook pages we reported on have been taken down since our articles first appeared.

A British paper incorrectly reported that Mohammed al Zawahiri was arrested in Syria.

During an interview with a Cairo-based publication in late October, Ahmed Ashush repeatedly praised and defended al Qaeda. Ashush also said, “We are at war with the United States and Israel.”
