Egyptian authorities have arrested 25 Al-Qaeda-linked militants on suspicion of plotting attacks on oil pipelines and ships crossing the Suez Canal. In a statement issued Thursday, the interior ministry said the new cell was led by a Palestinian and included 24 Egyptians, mostly engineers and technicians. They planned to use mobile phones to detonate explosives against ships crossing the Canal, the statement said. The group learned how to make car bombs through communicating with Al-Qaeda militants on websites, according to the statement. The detainees confessed to funding their activities through contributions from charities abroad and in one case robbed a jewelry store and murdered its Coptic Christian owner. Meanwhile, an Egyptian newspaper reported this week that several European members of the recently busted Al-Qaeda cell had received training and financing from militant groups in the Gaza Strip. The Europeans – three Belgians, a man from France and another from Britain – stand accused, along with seven Arab Al-Qaeda members, of planning to attack Israeli targets in Egypt and monitoring Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal.
