Hasm Movement | |
---|---|
حسم | |
Dates of operation | 2016 – present |
Active regions | Egypt |
Ideology | Islamism, Sunni Islam |
Opponents | Egypt |
Battles and wars | Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present) |
The Arms of Egypt Movement (Arabic: حركة سواعد مِصر Ḥarakat Sāwa'd Miṣr), commonly known as the Hasm Movement (Arabic: حسم), is an Islamist militant group operating in Egypt.[2]
The group despite having little uptime, has shown to have a very advanced organization and deployment which has led the security forces to link them with the Muslim Brotherhood.[3]
On 16 July 2016 militants opened fire on a police vehicle in Tamiyyah, Faiyum, killing one officer and two were wounded in the attack.[4][5] On 5 August, the Hasm Movement claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on the former Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa.[6]
On September 4 conscripst of the Central Security Forces were wounded after tried to defuse an improvised device in the city of Damietta. The Hasm Movement claimed this attack.[7][8] Four days later, militants shot dead a police officer, in Sixth of October city, Giza.[9][10] Weeks later (29 September), the Hasm movement attempted to kill Zakaria Abdel Aziz, a senior assistant to Egypt's top prosecutor, as he was returning home from his office in eastern Cairo. The bomb failed to kill or hurt Aziz and his entourage, though one passerby was injured and taken to hospital.[11][12]
Days later, militants attacked a police officer near his house in Mahmoudiyah, Beheira, killing the officer.[13] On 4 November 2016, the Hasm movement claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on local judge Ahmed Aboul Fotouh in Nasr City. Judge Fotouh was one of three judges who sentenced former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to twenty years in prison in 2015.[14][15]
On 9 December 2016, the Hasm Movement claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint on a main road near the Giza pyramid complex on the outskirts of Cairo, which killed six police officers.[16][17]
Militants opened fire an Egyptian National Police (ENP) vehicle in Ibsheway, Faiyum, leaving one officer killed and other wounded.[18][19]
On March 27, 2017, assailants shot and killed a police officer in the village of Basarta, Damietta. Weeks later, security officers shot death the possible attacker responsible for the murder, in the operation, two officers were wounded.[20][21] During the next monts the movement continued with his armed activity [22]
On May 1, militants attacked a convoy of ENP agents killing three officers and wounded other five, this attack were in Nasr City, Cairo.[23][24] On January 18, an explosive device blasts and opened fire on a police vehicle in Maadi neighborhood, Cairo. The attack left and the group stated that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the Egyptian government transferring ownership of two islands to Saudi Arabia.[25][26]
The group was accused of being behind the 2019 Cairo explosion, which resulted in 20 deaths and 47 injured,[27] but the group had denied the allegations.[28]
On 11 April 2019, Egyptian government forces reportedly killed 6 members of the group in an armed confrontation, after discovering a plot to plant bombs in Giza, members of the group began shooting at police as they approached them for questioning resulting in a fire fight, after the fight several firearms and bomb making materials were discovered.[29]
Security forces arrested three people who were detained for possible involvement in the attack that occurred in December, that killed six officers.[30][31]