SINAI PROVINCE: ‘VERY AMBITIOUS AND VERY DANGEROUS’

CAIRO— If it turns out a terrorist bomb caused the Russian plane crash in Egypt last Saturday, it will surprise few if it’s the work of Sinai Province, which has claimed responsibility. The group, an affiliate of Islamic State, was known originally as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Supporters of the Holy House in Jerusalem. Its origins can be traced to a series of attacks by militants on Red Sea tourist resorts in the Sinai between 2004 and 2006. Opportunity

“The security collapse following the Egyptian revolution provided Sinai jihadists with a once-in-alifetime opportunity,” said an August paper published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. Coupled with the easy flow of weapons from Libya, the Sinai became a favoured base for radical Islamists from across the region, it said. The militants stepped up attacks, bombing the natural gas pipeline linking Egypt to Israel more than 24 times from 2011-13. Bolder attacks

The military-led ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi just one year into his term provided the militants with yet another call to arms. The group declared war on the Egyptian government, and their attacks became bolder.

The group’s ambitions grew again in 2014, when it changed its name to Sinai Province and pledged allegiance to the rapidly expanding IS. It acquired more powerful arms and its violence increasingly resembles the territory-grabbing attacks of IS. Growing similarities

In July, Sinai Province killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers in simultaneous attacks on a security checkpoint. It took airstrikes from F-16 fighters to beat the militants back — after a fight that lasted at least 10 hours.

“There is an alignment in tactics, and in propaganda,” said Michael Horowitz, senior analyst at a Middle East risk consultancy firm of the similarities between Sinai Province and IS. “This is a group that is trying to capture land. A group that is very ambitious and very dangerous.”