Egyptian diplomat says no Qaeda, Jihad cells in Egypt

An Egyptian diplomat ruled out the presence of terrorist cells in Egypt belonging to Al-Qaeda leader Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden or his aide Jihad leader Ayman Al-Zawahri.

In an interview with the US C. Span TV station on Friday, Egypt's Ambassador in Washington, Nabil Fahmi said a number of Jihad cells used to operate in Egypt for years and the Egyptian authorities handled them in a legal way.

'Over the past few years, a number of Jihad members were tried and some of them fled abroad and stayed in European capitals,' said Fahmi. 'They were tracked down by the Egyptian Authorities who applied for their extradition after having them sentenced at home,' he said.

A number of European countries turned down Egypt's extradition requests and later those fugitives flew to Afghanistan.

He regretted the world's turning deaf ears to Egypt's repeated calls over a decade to convene an international conference on terrorism.

'Egypt suffered from terrorism in the first half of the past decade and hence it recognizes how deep is the American wound now,' said Fahmi.

He cited Egypt's success to bridle terrorism through strict legal measures together with upholding the civil rights.

The terrorism phenomenon had shrunk over the past five or six years in Egypt but it is still impossible to root it up for good unless there is an international coordination that does not only focus on the security aspect.

He assured one of the US callers that Egypt is certainly safe, recalling that last year the number of tourists marked a record increase as it reached more than five million.