The bomber behind the December 2013 fatal bombing of Daqahlia’s security department was briefly recruited as an informant for security apparatuses, a senior security sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
“The bomber who carried out the bombing had been an informant working with the National Security Agency. He had been arrested twice by Cairo security and was recruited by the NSA’s eastern Cairo sector,” the source, who asked not to be named, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The attack in December 2013 on the Daqahlia Security Directorate killed 14 police officers and wounded 130 others. Following the bombing, the interim government that ousted former president Mohamed Morsy immediately named the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, though another extremist group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the operation.
Investigators identified the perpetrator as Imam Mahfouz, 41, the senior security official said. “Directives by senior NSA leaderships were given to the Cairo security directorate in 2013 to release the suspect,” the source said, adding that he was recruited by the NSA to provide information about other terrorist elements.
In an earlier interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm in April, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Mahfouz’s attack was plotted by the Brotherhood in collaboration with Palestinian faction Hamas.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
