Egyptian papers publish names of Hamas members behind massacre (UPDATE)

Al Ahram published the names of three Hamas members that, it says, are behind the massacre of 16 Egyptian soldiers last August in the Sinai.

The terrorists then stole an APC and a truck filled with explosives, and they entered Israel where the IDF stopped them.

Egyptian security blamed Gaza terrorists at the time, but more recently the news out of Egypt has been that the terrorists were specifically Hamas members.

Al Ahram identifies three of them as:

1. Ayman Nofal, "a leading Qassam Brigades member and fugitive from Marg prison during the revolution of January 25"
2. Mohamed Ibrahim Salah Abu Shamala known as "Abu Khalil" and a high ranking Hamas member
3. Raed Al-Attar, nicknamed "the Hamas head of the snake" and supposedly a planner of the Gilad Shalit kidnapping

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri condemned the article saying it was a "pure fabrication."

Whatever the truth is, Egyptians are not happy with Hamas.

In related news, the Egyptian operations to destroy Hamas smuggling tunnels continue. The impression I am getting is that while one reason is to crack down on jihadists who are using the tunnels to smuggle weapons and hide out, another factor is that Egypt itself is short of fuel and construction materials, and the subsidized fuel that gets smuggled to Gaza causes Egypt increases social unrest (not to mention it costs Egypt a lot of money.)

UPDATE: The Al Qassam Brigades held a press conference to denounce the accusations, saying that Al Ahram is only serving the Zionists and that the Hamas resistance is a good thing for Egypt.

Here they are at the press conference:

Don't they look trustworthy?