One of Egypt’s most deadly and notorious terror organizations announced that one of its founders was accidentally killed by a bomb.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a Salafist terror group which has been responsible for low-level insurgency attacks against Egyptian security forces, confirmed that Tawfiq Mohamed Fareej, also known as Abu Abdullah, died last week when a car accident set off a bomb he was transporting in the trunk of his car. Fareej, who masterminded a terror attack in Israel in 2011, was a “field commander” of Ansar.
The Ansar group, which means “Partisans of Jerusalem” in Arabic, is notorious in Egypt for orchestrating some of the deadliest attacks against Egyptian forces since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown from office last July.
On August 8, 2011, Fareej led terrorist insurgents in a cross-border raid into Israel that killed 8 Israelis. Gunmen opened fire on a civilian bus heading south toward Eilat on Route 12. The bus, #392, was traveling from Be’er Sheva to Eilat. Over a period of one hour, gunmen opened fire on another passing bus and two cars. Soldiers on board the bus fired back at the terrorists, killing two and leaving a third critically injured.
The terrorists also detonated a hidden roadside bomb that exploded under an army jeep that was rushing to the scene. In congruence with the attack, hidden gunmen along the border with Gaza opened mortar fire at IDF soldiers patrolling the Gaza-Israel border fence.
In total, eight Israelis – two civilian and two security personnel – were murdered in the attacks. IDF forces eventually tracked down and killed seven of the terrorists involved in the attack.
According to a statement by Ansar, Fareej was also responsible for an attack on a gas pipeline to Israel and a failed assassination attempt against Egypt’s interior minister in September.
Last week, Hamas announced that one of its own accidentally killed himself in a bomb making workshop in the Gaza Strip. Ibrahem al-Ghoul, a field commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, accidentally blew himself up when teaching fellow terrorists how to create bombs.
Hamas dubbed the incident a “work accident.”
