Ramez and Bahr Module (Jihadi Entity, Egypt)

• Local Name: N/a
• Transliteration: N/a
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2016 – 2017 (Defeated)
• Conflicts: Islamist Militancy in Egypt

The Ramez and Bahr Module [RBM] was an ideologically heterogenous Islamist militant cell based in Cairo. It had about a dozen members, many of whom were believed to be supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. The cell was formed somewhere in 2016 after Osama Bahr and some of his associates had decided to attack the Egyptian authorities and convinced Ramez Mohammed to lead and train them.¹ Mohammed had previously fought for the Victory Front for the People of the Levant [JaNS; Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahli ash-Sham] in Syria and had the experience that Bahr’s associates were lacking.²

Mohammed and Bahr quickly embarked on a mission to prepare their men for action and collect weapons. They also forged ties to Imaddaddin Hamid’s Assembly of Partisans of Islam [JAaI; Jama’at Ansar an Islam]; a jihadi outfit based in Egypt’s Libyan desert region.³ The RBM also kept in contact with radicalized elements of the Muslim Brotherhood.⁴ Over the next months, the cell made plans to attack the Israeli embassy, a Coptic church and police stations but called off most of the plots due to high security at the sites.⁵ By the summer of 2017, the militants had decided to develop a plot to assassinate a senior judge.⁶ On Jul. 26, 2017, the RBM attacked a police station in Giza, injuring one officer and a civilian.⁷

Egyptian security forces rolled up the JAaI in October 2017, killing and capturing most of its key members. Subsequent investigations exposed the RBM. Security forces raided the cells main hideout on Dec. 24, 2017 and apprehended nine members, including Mohammed and several other senior operatives. Explosives and weapons were also seized.⁸ Bahr escaped arrest and later linked up with the Decisiveness Movement [HaH; Harakat al-Hasam].⁹ He was eliminated as police forces stormed a safehouse of the HaH in July 2018.¹⁰ In November 2019, Mohammed and most other members of the RBM were sentenced to life imprisonment.¹¹