The Islamic Glory Brigades in the Land of the Nile opposes what the group perceives to be the injustice of the Egyptian government under President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. The group's only claimed attack was a suicide bombing that occurred on Juhr al-Qa'id Street near al-Azhar mosque in the popular Khan al-Khalili open-air bazaar in Cairo, Egypt on April 7, 2005. However, the validity of their claim (and therefore their existence) is questionable.<br /><P><br /><br />This was the first attack in Egypt in seven years that targeted foreigners, and it was carried out by an 18-year-old Zagazig University engineering student named Hassan Rafaat Ahmed Bashandi (aka Abu al-Ala al-Masri). Aside from the suicide bomber, the bomb, which may have detonated prematurely, left 2 French and 1 American dead and 18 injured, half of which were Egyptian nationals. Egyptian officials, concerned about losing the precious tourist revenue that represents the largest single sector of foreign investment in Egypt, reported limited damage to souvenir shops and buildings and were quick to assert that the attack was an isolated incident and not a part of a larger string of bombings. <br /><P><br /><br />Initial reports indicated that the bomber fled the scene in a motorcycle, but after investigation, this claim was refuted. Egyptian police detained 30 in connection with the bomb investigation, over half of whom were related to the suspect, including the suspect's mother, brother, and uncle, who ironically was the first to help police by identifying his nephew's body from photographs published in a newspaper. A search of Bashandi's small northern Cairo apartment produced compact discs with jihadi materials and bomb-making instructions, and 43 fireworks (with their gunpowder removed) were discovered in Bashandi's aunt's house. Relatives reported that the bomber's father's death in August turned him towards religious extremism, at times not even allowing his family to watch television. Egyptian officials concluded that Bashandi worked with 3 accomplices to build the bomb, which essentially was a leather bag filled with 7 pounds of gunpowder and nails, and the Tourism Minister and prosecution team insisted that the men were not part of a terrorist group. <br /><P><br /><br />The day after the attack, claims by a man named Abd-al-Hakim on behalf of the Jund al-Sham Organization surfaced on the Syrian Islamic Forum. Al-Hakim also claimed responsibility for the March 4th, 2005 Texas City oil refinery explosion and attacks in Qatar and Lebanon. He went on to threaten more attacks in the U.S., Italy, and Britain. It wasn't until several days later that the Islamic Glory Brigades in the Land of the Nile claimed the attack through an Internet posting, stating that their intent was "to avenge our brothers, martyrs of injustice, and detainees" and strike back "against America and all other colonial powers, for our Muslim brothers who are oppressed, whether they be in Iraq, in Palestine or elsewhere on bloodied Islamic land".<br /><P><br /><br />Though Egyptian officials may have ulterior motives in announcing that the attack was perpetrated by a group of determined individuals rather than a planned action ordered by an organized terrorist group, several details of the bombing, such as the primitive nature of the explosive device and the two conflicting claims from questionable terrorist groups (one making outrageous claims to many attacks and the other previously unheard of), do help to support the Egyptian government's claim.<br />