ELIMINATED
- Full name: Hammam Mohammed Ahmed Attiya
- Pseudonym: Majd al-Din al-Masri
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Egypt, fmr Iraq, fmr Afghanistan
- Affiliation: Reinforcements of Egypt [AM], fmr Partisans of the Holy House [ABaM]
Hammam Attiya (°1981) was the founder and leader of the Reinforcements of Egypt [AM; Ajnad Misr]. He became involved with militancy around the turn of the millennium when he met an unidentified al-Qa’ida operative while visiting his father in Europe.1 Attiya reportedly traveled to Afghanistan where he received training in martial arts and bomb making at an al-Qa’ida-ran camp.2
Attiya moved to Saudi Arabia in 2002. He worked in the poultry trade and married an expatriate Egyptian woman.3 In 2007, Attiya traveled to Iraq and linked with local jihadi forces.4 Since he did not want to fight against other Muslims, Attiya returned to Saudi Arabia after having trained for two months.5
In late 2011 or early 2012, Attiya returned to Egypt and joined the Partisans of the Holy House [ABaM; Ansar Bait al-Maqdis] to serve as an explosives expert and public relations operative.6 In September 2012, Attiya and an associate narrowly escaped arrest when security forces intercepted their car as they were transporting explosives near Ismailiya.7 The Egyptian authorities subsequently issued an arrest warrant for him. Attiya fled to Arish where he stayed for about a year.8
In the fall of 2013, Attiya fell out with ABaM’s leaders. He disagreed with the group’s operations against Israel and wanted to focus solely on Egypt.9 Attiya also wanted to attract broader support for their struggle.10 He moved to Giza and began attracting followers.11 Attiya and longtime associate Bilal Sobhi founded the AM shortly afterwards.12 At first, the group only had about twenty members.13 It nevertheless launched its first operations in November 2013. In January 2014, the AM emerged from obscurity after it claimed responsibility for having killed two policemen in a bomb attack near a Giza subway station.14 Over the next months, Attiya and his followers carried out a series of bombings targeting security forces in and around Cairo.
In the beginning, Attiya masterminded most of the AM’s attacks.15 He was closely involved in the preparation and execution of the operations. Attiya constructed bombs and personally participated in at least seven attacks.16 By the middle of 2014, the Egyptian authorities began rounding up AM operatives. Attiya countered these setbacks by recruiting new members.17 By the summer of 2014, he had become one of Egypt’s most wanted terrorists. Attiya and his associates stepped up their public relations outreach. In January 2015, he answered questions received through social media in a lengthy video distributed on the internet.18
Egyptian authorities eventually caught up with Attiya. On Apr. 05, 2015, police eliminated him during a raid on his apartment in the Haram suburb of Giza.19 His wife and nine children were taken into custody.20 At the time of his death, Attiya apparently posed as a driver.21 He was eulogized by al-Qa’ida’s branches in Algeria and Yemen.22
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