Egypt's Gama'a denies uniting with al Qaeda

CAIRO, Aug 6 (Reuters) Egypt's Gama'a Islamiya today denied that it had united with al Qaeda after an announcement by Ayman al-Zawahri, aired on Arab television, that some Gama'a leaders had joined the global militant group led by Osama bin Laden.

''The Gama'a Islamiya in Egypt stresses the lack of truth in what Al Jazeera aired by Dr Ayman al-Zawahri about it joining Al Qaeda, and categorically denies this,'' the Gama'a said in a statement on its website, www.egyptianislamicgroup.com.

In the al Qaeda video, which Al Jazeera showed yesterday Egyptian-born Zawahri named Mohamed al-Islambouli as one of those who had joined al Qaeda, referring to a Gama'a leader whose brother Khaled assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

A man introduced by Zawahri as another Gama'a leader, Mohamed Hakaima, later appeared in the video to confirm the move.

The Gama'a (Islamic Group) waged a bloody campaign against the government in the 1990s to set up a purist Islamic state before ultimately declaring a truce in 1997.

Egypt detained many thousands of Gama'a members or sympathisers in the 1990s when the group was waging a low-level guerrilla war against security forces, mainly in the south.

But hundreds have come out of detention over the years after renouncing the use of violence. Gama'a leaders declared a truce after a deadly attack on tourists at a pharaonic temple in Luxor in 1997.

REUTER LL RK2340