The militant group Ajnad Misr issued a statement Friday in response to the US State Department’s designation of the group as a terrorist entity.
Released via its official Twitter account, the group’s statement accused the US of interfering in Egypt’s affairs. It described the US’ actions as “a plot by the global system” to abort the “revolutionary action against the regime and its criminal institutions.”
The group argued that the US is the “real terrorist organisation”, accusing it of “killing children and operating secret prisons”.
The statement explained that the group is not facing a local “criminal institution”, but is rather facing a “global system”. This system, the group added, fears that its status will be jeopardised if “we [the group] rule the world, fighting evil, and spreading good deeds”.
“The current struggle is a fight over the identity, neither over economy nor politics,” the statement read.
Mohamed Al-Qahiry, one of the operatives handling the group’s media, mentioned on his Twitter account that the designation is a “blessing”.
Last Thursday, the US Department of State officially designated Ajnad Misr as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”, describing it as a “violent extremist group that splintered from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM)”.
Ajnad Misr is a shadowy group, formed in January 2014 as a part of the rise in militancy the country has been witnessing since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
The group has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in and around greater Cairo, including a bombing outside Cairo University on 22 October. The UAE recently placed the group on its list of terrorist organisations.
