An Egyptian court yesterday banned the armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas (Qassam Brigades) and listed it as a terrorist organisation.
The ruling came days after the country faced some of the bloodiest attacks on security forces in years. Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood which the authorities have also declared a terrorist group and have repressed systematically since the army ousted one of its leaders, Mohamed Mursi, from the presidency in 2013. The case was based on allegations that the Qassam Brigades, staged terrorist attacks to support the Brotherhood, and carried out a bombing and shooting operation in the Sinai Peninsula in October of 2014.
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