Hassan Attallah (Jihadi Militant, Egypt)

• Full name: Hassan Mohammed Abu Sira Attallah
• Pseudonym: N/a
• Alternatives: Hassan Waza
• Location: Egypt
• Affiliation: Islamic State in Egypt’ Soldiers of the Caliphate [DaIM-JK, fmr Islamic State in Egypt’s South Giza Cells [DaIM-SG], fmr Islamic State in Egypt’s Pyramid Module [DaIM-A]

Hassan Attallah (°1996) was an Egyptian Islamist who became involved in militant activity following the army’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters in the summer of 2013. He took part in demonstrations and joined an association of football ultras opposed to the army in November 2013.¹ In June 2014, Attallah was arrested as police broke up a protest. He became obsessed with revenge during his subsequent nine-month stay in prison.² Following his release in early 2015, Attallah linked up with radicalized Brotherhood supporters who had turned to violence. He participated in several firebomb attacks against government buildings and railway infrastructure.³

After a while, Attallah joined militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham]. He became an associate of Mohammed Hendawi and his Islamic State in Egypt’s Pyramid Module [Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Misr – Ahram].⁴ Attallah helped carry out the Jul. 29, 2015 attack on policemen guarding the embassy of Niger in Giza.⁵ One police officer was killed in the incident. Around the same time, he also became acquainted with elements of the fledgling Islamic State in Egypt’s South Giza Cells [DaIM-SG]. Attallah also developed contacts with DaIISh elements outside the country.⁶ Later that year, he was apprehended by security forces as they rolled up the DaIM-A.⁷

Attallah escaped custody as he was being transported to a hospital by prison guards on Apr. 04, 2017.⁸ He immediately returned to the fight and linked up with the remnants of the DaIM-SG. Attallah established and subsequently led the Islamic State in Egypt’ Soldiers of the Caliphate [DaIM-JK; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Misr – Jund al-Khilafa].⁹ On Jul. 05, 2017, DaIM-JK operatives killed three soldiers in an attack on a toll booth in Ayat, in the Giza governorate.¹⁰ Nine days later, the outfit ambushed a police van in the Badrasheen suburb of Giza, killing five officers.¹¹

Security forces eventually managed to track down Attallah and eliminated him during a raid on his safe house in the city of Sadis min-Oktubar in late July 2017.¹² Three of his associates also died in the operation.¹³