He explained that his task with the Wahat attackers was to provide logistic support to the group, such as food and clothes. He added that the group’s leader was a former Egyptian army officer named Emad El-Din who was known in the group as Sheikh Hatem. In early 2015, El-Mosmari met Sheikh Hatem in Derna where he was working as a builder of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). El-Mosmari explained that Sheikh Hatem established his own group, which adhered to al-Qaeda ideology, but had no official links to al-Qaeda’s central leadership, and consisted of 17 people. During the time between the 20 October Wahat clashes and the Egyptian army’s counter-insurgency operation against the Sheikh Hatem group, El-Mosmari said that they spent 13 days moving between different parts of the desert surrounding the Wahat area until the Air Force targeted them.

Source: Egypt Independent November 16, 2017 22:41 UTC