- Local Name: خلية مدينة نصر
- Transliteration: Khaliat Madinat Nassr
- Alternatives: N/a
- Status: 2011 – 2012 (Defeated)
- Conflicts: Islamist Militancy in Egypt
The Nassr City Cell [NCC] was a Cairo-based jihadi module that was made up of more than two dozen members. It was deeply intertwined with the al-Qa’ida-affiliated Mohammed Jamal Network [MJN] and the Partisans of Shari’a in Egypt [ASE; Ansar al-Shari’a]. It was headed by former members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad Movement [EIJ] and al-Qa’ida associates Tarek Abu Azzam, Mohammed el-Kashif and Adel Shehato.1 Through Kashif, the NCC was in direct contact with al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.2
The NCC was formed after the interim military authorities had freed the module’s leaders from prison in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Upon their release, they linked up with each other and decided to wage jihad in Egypt.3 They gathered associates and discussed plans to attack the security forces, the Egyptian ministries of foreign affairs and the interior, Coptic Christian churches and diplomatic missions.4 They also made lists of business leaders, politicians and other public fighters who they wanted to assassinate.5 None of these plots were developed extensively. Over time, the NCC turned its attention to American warships passing through the Suez Canal. It made plans to attack aircraft carriers with explosives-laden boats manned by suicide terrorists. The module began monitoring the movements of the American navy on the waterway and had members train with using small boats.6
Soon after its formation, the NCC began procuring weapons from Libya through Kashif’s network.7 It also sent several of its operatives to Libya for training at an MJN camp.8 NCC members also trained in remote parts of Egypt’s desert regions.9 They made explosives and even tested roadside bomb prototypes.10 The cell eventually caught the attention of the Egyptian security services which began to monitor the outfit in April 2012.11
In September 2012, police apprehended a key member of the NCC.12 On Oct. 23, Shehato and two associates were apprehended in the Siwa Oasis on their way to Libya.13 The next day, security forces stormed the NCC’s lair in Cairo’s Nassr City suburb.14 One of the cell’s members blew himself up and five others were apprehended during the raid. Police also seized firearms, grenades, rockets, an explosive belt and a variety of bomb components.15 Other members of the NCC were rounded up in the following weeks. On Dec. 09, Kashif was arrested in the Sharqiya governorate.16
The captured NCC members were put on trial. The defendants defiantly proclaimed their loyalty to al-Qa’ida and waved pictures of Osama Bin Laden and signs in support of the movement during the proceedings.17 The trial received considerable coverage in the Egyptian press. The militants were publicly celebrated by the ASE.18 On Oct. 22, 2014, 26 of the defendants were convicted.19 Nine NCC operatives were given life sentences.20 Some of the convicts appealed the verdict and a new trial was ordered in December 2017.21 On Dec. 22, 2018, a Cairene court again sentenced one of them to life imprisonment.22
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