News Analysis: Egypt unshaken to fight terrorism despite consulate blast

The blast that targeted an Italian consulate in downtown Cairo on Saturday is unlikely to succeed in intimidating foreign states that support Egypt's war against terrorism, said Egyptian political and security experts.

Hours after the blast, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who reaffirmed his country's solidarity with Egypt in its anti-terror war and its interest in obliterating terrorism.

Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group, claimed responsibility for the blast on a Twitter account attributed to them.

"This terrorist attack is only meant to be propaganda to distort the image of Egypt in the Western media," said Sameh Abdullah, managing editor of state-run Al-Ahram newspaper and head of the paper's official website, stressing that it is a "far-fetched goal" if terrorists seek to destabilize Egypt.

As for Western reactions, the expert told Xinhua that they are always based on their special goals and interests. "Those who support Egypt would consider it a normal incident and those whose interests lie in Egypt's instability would exaggerate the incident."

It is the first terrorist activity that has targeted a diplomatic office in Egypt since the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in early July 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule.

Egypt has been facing a rising wave of terrorism since Morsi's ouster and the following crackdown on his supporters, particularly those of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, which left more than 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested.

Since then, Sinai-based self-proclaimed Islamists have been launching terror attacks against police and army men, leaving hundreds of them killed; the ABM claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks.

"Terrorists are still aware that no matter of their recurrent operations and the number of casualties, their effect is limited after all," Abdullah told Xinhua, adding that "the Egyptian government has no other option but security confrontation because the terrorists lack a political agenda and their only goal is to destabilize the society by all means."

Following Morsi's ouster, Egypt has been struggling until it managed to normalize ties with the United States and other Western countries that had previously rejected the removal of the first Egyptian democratically-elected president.

"The blast is a symbolic operation that does not target human casualties but it aims to send a warning message to the European Union missions in Egypt," said Hazem Hosni, a professor of political sciences at Cairo University.

The professor noted that the Brotherhood over a month ago warned through a TV channel in Turkey that embassies in Egypt should either give up their support for Egypt's current regime or be evacuated.

"Saturday's terrorist operation points fingers at Brotherhood elements as well as international elements involved in the issue," Hosni told Xinhua, urging the Egyptian regime for exerting greater efforts to secure diplomatic missions in the most populous Arab country.

Following the explosion, Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar met with Italian Ambassador to Cairo Maurizio Massari to update him about the incident and the police efforts to find the perpetrators.

"During the meeting, the Italian ambassador expressed his country's full solidarity with Egypt in its fight against the phenomenon of terrorism," the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Saturday's blast was also strongly condemned by Egypt's moderate Islamist institution Al-Azhar, and the Cairo-based leading panel for Sunni Muslims in Egypt and the whole world voiced support for the state anti-terror efforts and measures.

Security expert and adviser to the gulf Center for Startegic Studies, Gamal Mazloum, said that the blast shows an attempt of terrorists to develop and expand their operations.

"They started from targeting security men and premises to targeting public services like electricity towers, and then to targeting tourist sites as in the foiled activity in Luxor's Karnak Temple and finally to targeting diplomatic offices as in Saturday's blast outside the Italian consulate," he said.

The expert told Xinhua that Saturday's attack was meant to intimidate a country supporting Sisi's leadership, yet the move will make the whole world condemn terrorist activities instead of being intimidated by them.

Mazloum expects the near future to witness wider security raids and prior anti-terror security operations, citing the interior minister's recent statement that the police secure vital state institutions and use heavy weapons when necessary.

"With such prior security measures, I expect things will get better in terms of security conditions very soon," the security expert said. Endit