Abu Obaida: Mastermind behind Cairo Security Directorate bombing

Nora Bandari

The Egyptian Ramadan series “El-Ekhteyar” (The Choice) reviewed the most prominent terrorist elements that belonged to the terrorist organization Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in Sinai. In one of the scenes of episode 17, a live video of the Cairo Security Directorate bombing on January 24, 2014 was shown, which was hatched by takfirist Abu Obaida.

After that incident, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the attack. At the end of that episode, there was a scene of the inauguration of terrorist Hesham Ashmawi as successor to Abu Obaida after the Egyptian security forces managed to kill the latter.

Who was Abu Obaida?

His real name was Mohamed al-Sayed Mansour al-Toukhy, and he was considered one of the most dangerous takfirist elements. He had led a terrorist cell to carry out many terrorist acts throughout Egypt. After the failure of the armed Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in 2013, he fled to Sinai and then to Syria, where he was trained to carry out suicide missions.

After obtaining the necessary training, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis instructed him to be the group’s official in central ​​Cairo. In 2014, he was instructed to return to Egypt via Libya in order to form a terrorist cell and carry out a series of operations targeting vital installations such as churches and government institutions, particularly in Cairo, Giza, and Qalyubiya, so as to cause the greatest loss of life.

Abu Obaida ​​was close to then-leader of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Tawfiq Freij, also known as Abu Abdullah, and he has a strong relationship to fleeing Furqan Brigades leader Mohamed Ahmed Nasr and many of the terrorists in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis before they defected and established organizations affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Abu Obaida was the mastermind behind the bombing of the Cairo Security Directorate building on January 24, 2014, which resulted in the death of a number of citizens. Then, on March 13, 2014, Egyptian security forces, with the assistance of special operations agents, managed to locate him at an apartment in the Ain Shams district of eastern Cairo and eliminate him. Ashmawi then assumed control of the terrorist group.