Egypt’s Interior Ministry on Thursday announced its first arrests in connection with a series of attacks on businesses and utilities over the past several months.
New and little-known groups with names like the Popular Resistance Movement and Revolutionary Punishment that oppose the 2013 military takeover have claimed responsibility for the attacks. Their statements suggest that they are seeking to undermine an investment conference, scheduled for this weekend, that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made a centerpiece of his economic program.
The ministry said in a statement that on Wednesday it arrested 75 suspects in cases related to the attacks, including 43 previously identified in connection with acts of violence.
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The ministry characterized the groups as arms of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that backed the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi. Statements from some of the groups on social media include Islamist slogans, but the Brotherhood frequently condemns violence, and there is no publicly available evidence linking the new groups to the Brotherhood.