Sources from the Egyptian opposition said two officers were killed and a driver was injured in a botched assassination attempt on the life of the son of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. The president’s son – Gamal Mubarak - escaped death when his convoy came under attack while driving on the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway, the Islamic Media Monitor (Al Marsad) reported, citing Egyptian Islamic sources.
The report cited sources it described ‘reliable’ as saying that the attempt took place while Gamal was on his way back to Cairo from a tour in Alexandria.
“Gamal escaped death due to the protection from the bullet-proof vehicle he was driving in and the presence of armed guards,” Egypt’s Al Sha’ab newspaper said.
According to the report, the assassination attempt took place prior to the ruling National Democratic Party’s assembly was convened - end of last month.
Speaking to Al Bawaba, Egyptian political analyst Salah Bdaiwi believes that either the ‘Jama’ah Islamiya’ or a new organization known as the ‘Free Egyptians’ are most likely to be behind the attempt. “There are streams within the Jama’ah Islamiyah who do not accept the truce announced by their imprisoned leaders,” he told Al Bawaba.
Last August, the ‘Free Egyptians’ website announced that the organization had decided to assassinate the Egyptian president after it had warned him to step down as well as back away from grooming his son as a possible successor to him. “The decision has been taken by a special court and the sentence will be implemented in a manner that neither Mubarak, his sons or his wife could imagine,” an Egyptian Islamic opposition source told Al Bawaba earlier today, adding that he expects the military to also participate in any assassination attempt.
After some two decades in power and currently in his mid-70s, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is widely suspected of grooming his 39 year-old son for succession. Gamal’s name has often been mentioned in the public arena in this context.(Albawaba.com)
