Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the armed forces monitor reports about the movements of the so-called “Free Army” on the southern and western borders.
“And we help them by taking proactive strikes against terrorist cells before they carry out operations,” he said.
The intelligence official of the Syrian Free Army, Hossam al-Awak had told the Saudi Okaz newspaper that officers from a certain Arab country train the Egyptian Free Army in Libya, adding that the army includes jihadists from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali and Sudan.
His statement raised a wide controversy among Egyptian political circles.
Egyptian security experts confirmed the information, while others considered it nothing more than media hype.
Training camps for that army were raised from three to 12 camps targeting Egypt to avenge those killed in the dispersal of the Brotherhood Rabaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda squares sit-ins.
The army is believed to consist of 1,000 volunteers, of whom 400 are Egyptian. They all wear a uniform printed with “The Egyptian Free Army.”
There is information that the army would soon declare itself and its goals.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
