Harakat Sawa’d Misr, An Islamic Militant Group, Officially Designated As A Foreign Terror Organization |
The State Department designated another Islamic militant group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the department announced Thursday.
Harakat Sawa’d Misr (HASM), an Egypt-based active terrorist group formed in 2015, had claimed responsibility for assassinating an Egyptian National Security Agency officer and an attack on an embassy in Cairo, according to the State Department.
HASM was also responsible for killing at least 20 people with a car bomb that exploded near a hospital in Cairo, according to the State Department. The group also claimed an attempted assassination of Egypt’s former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa.
#US Places HASM Leaders on #Terror List https://t.co/wIpTD10VfH
— Asharq Al-Awsat English (@aawsat_eng) January 16, 2021
Some HASM leaders have been tied to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. A Senior HASM official, Al-Samahi, has previously been involved in attack planning, target selection and managing the group’s finances.
Designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) makes it more difficult for a group to access resources needed to plan and perform acts of terror, according to the State Department. The designation is meant to “expose and isolate” the group and to ensure that they cannot access the U.S. financial system.
All of the HASM’s property and assets in the U.S. will be blocked under the designation, and it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to aid the group in any way, according to the Department of State.
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