Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was targeted 12 times in assassination attempts carried out by members of Jama'a al-Islamiya in Egypt, according to Ali al-Sherif, a leader of the group in Egypt.
In an interview published by Kuwaiti newspaper al-Raii on its website on Sunday, Sherif said the group planned to assassinate Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995, adding that killing Mubarak also served the interests of the Sudanese regime at the time.
The decision to get rid of Mubarak was in revenge for Mubarak’s detention and torture of women to pressure detained members of the group. They also wanted him dead because he "liquidated several members of the group".
He added that the Jama'a was convinced of the need to suspend the use of violence following the failed assassination attempt in Addis Ababa. The group was also militarily weaker at that time.
The assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 is generally thought to have been carried out by Egyptian Islamic Jihad, but some have suggested Jama'a Islamiya was responsible for, or at least involved in, the attack.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
