'Suicide attack' at Karnak temple site in Egypt's Luxor
Source: BBC
A suicide bomber has blown himself up near the ancient Temple of Karnak in the Egyptian city of Luxor, police say.
Local media reported that three assailants were killed in the attack and that four bystanders were injured.
The assailants reportedly tried to storm a barricade at the temple, one of Egypt's most popular tourist sites.
Two of the attackers are believed to have been shot dead by police, but a third passed through barricade and detonated an explosive device.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33077862
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not long after the end of the "Persian Gulf War".
The big cities like Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan were fine. But the smaller sites at Edfu and particularly Esna, were pretty rough - even with our group of about 100, which was entirely AA, where some in the villages with a predominantly Nubian population, were yelling out the n-word, one of the few English words they managed to learn from other tourists... 
(and they were "darker" than we were). 
"Americans" tend to be spotted anywhere we go.
Those temples (both Karnak and Luxor, that actually are joined by a stone path - in some places lined with sphinxes), have been built on and "defiled" for literally a couple thousand years. In fact, there's a mosque jammed on part of the ruins of Luxor Temple that replaced an old Christian church that was there before.
1. The MB had rejected the path of armed struggle since about 1980, instead reconstituting itself as a social movement/political party under the Mubarek dictatorship.
2. After the overthrow of Mubarek, the MB won the presidential elections and Morsi was the duly constituted president.
3. Although the MB controlled the presidency, it never controlled the repressive apparatus of the state (the "deep state"
. It may have governed poorly, but it was not a monstrous, repressive state. That's the guys who are now back in power.
4. Egypt's "liberals" fucked up big time by begging the army to overthrow Morsi. They sacrificed Egypt's budding democracy for short-term political benefit--removing their hated foe--instead of doing what you are supposed to do in a democracy: win elections. Now, they get to share jail cells with the MB.
This is the key point. I'm not a fan of the MB. They are a conservative religious party. I wouldn't vote for them. But they played by the rules and they won. Democratically.
5. The military government massacred MB members, literally. They killed hundreds of them in one day in Cairo. They have arrested thousands. They have criminalized the country's largest social movement/political party. They have sentenced hundreds of people to death in kangaroo trials, including Morsi, who they sentenced to death for escaping from Mubarek's prisons!
6. If MB members picked up the gun at this point, who could blame them? But they shouldn't be blamed for things they haven't done. There was already a long-running, low-level Salafist insurgency before Morsi came to power. It has grown much stronger since he was overthrown. As during the hubbub of the Arab Spring, lots of people tried to blame the MB for acts of Islamist violence, when most of it is coming from the Salafist radicals. Whether people blamed the MB out of ignorance or malice, the effect is to make them responsible for all Islamic radicalism, when they were actually moderate compared to the Salafis.
7. Now, Egypt has a new military dicatorship, the liberals are cowed, and the MB is hunted like dogs. And the Salafist radicals are in the ascendant. Long live pharoah.
The Sinai is in open revolt against the Government of Egypt, the revolt quieted down under Morsi, but has increase under Sisi. Many have allied themselves with ISIL:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/06/10/415177/Egypt-Takfiri-militants-Sinai-Arish-Sheikh-Zuweid-Rafah
As a general rule "jihadist militants" are tied in with Salafist movement ("Wahhabism" which in turn is tied in with the House of Saud. The formed the "Al Nour" party during the revolution and supported the coup against Morsi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nour_Party
The Moslem Brotherhood's political party was the "Freedom and Justice Party".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_and_Justice_Party_(Egypt)
Whereas the Muslim Brothers have recently shown some flexibility on this matter, the Salafis remain adamantly and uncompromisingly opposed on theological and legal grounds, maintaining that these command the ascendancy of Muslim men over women and non-Muslims in the conduct of public affairs in Muslim societies.
More recently, the Salafis and the Muslim Brothers have also come to loggerheads over foreign policy matters. The former have kept up constant pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood to prevent it from showing a more tolerant attitude towards Shia Iran. The Salafis also disapprove of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood’s stances with respect to Israel and the West in general.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/502/32/Muslim%20Brothers%20and%20Salafis.aspx
In many ways the fight in Egypt reflects a Fight between "Wahhabism" and the Moslem Brotherhood, with the later being more open to new ideas and trends. The Moslem Brotherhood has also denounced violence for the saw what Gandhi did in India and decided it was the better option given the power of any Army in any Islamic country they were operating in.
"Wahhabism" tends to be more violent. ISIL is a "Wahhabism" off shoot. At the same time it is the Salafis/Wahhabi that get the support from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Emirates. Funding for the Moslem Brotherhood is more local and tied in with the Islamic Business community not the Oil Shrieks.
As to "jihadist militants have killed hundreds of security forces and government personnel since Mr Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted" what do you expect when a popularly elected President is removed by the use of Violence? Peaceful demonstrations? (Which actually were tried, and violently suppressed by the Egyptian Army).
Why, he asked, are the officials responsible for this waste of Saudi wealth not asking Al-Twijri and the coup generals in Egypt about the money? "No one knows the nature of this aid – a gift, a loan or anything else," he added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/16837-saudi-prince-calls-for-prosecution-of-officials-who-backed-egyptian-coup
On what has been dubbed “Black Wednesday,” an all-out joint offensive of the armed forces and riot police, backed by armored vehicles, helicopters, and bulldozers, was launched to nab rebels and disperse pro-legitimacy sit-ins at Rabaa Al Adawiya and Al Nahda Square. Stung by growing support for the sit-ins and condemnation of the ongoing bloodshed, the heavily-armed aggressors barbarically raided the two tent cities on August 14, using lethal force from the outset. Government forces bulldozed the encampments, bringing everything in their path to ruin and running over protesters helplessly trapped in crushed tents. Sandbag-lined barricades, shade canopies, camping tents, and stages built out of wooden planks were razed to the ground. Snipers inside helicopters flying at low altitude, assassination squads on rooftops, and ground troops opened heavy gunfire on unassuming, unarmed civilians—who were no match for the unrestrained, brute force of the state. Defiant protesters stood their ground in the face of a hail of bullets covered under the thick smog of teargas. As they tried to diffuse the situation by vacating the premises and fleeing the scene of the military operation—which resembled a war zone, compliant demonstrators were also met with deadly force. Some were struck by a barrage of bullets as they ran to seek refuge in adjacent buildings. The wrath of the assailants was then directed at the wounded and the dead. Inside the 6-story field hospital in Rabaa Al Adawiya, they set ablaze corpses and injured protesters with bullets lodged in their head, neck, or chest. Some of the victims' bodies have later been dumped outside overwhelmed city morgues. Security forces pillaged the remnants of the camps and set the Rabaa Al Adawiya mosque on fire. Persons arrested at Rabaa Al Adawiya and Al Nahda Square were transferred to prisons that can be described as concentration camps. While in police custody on August 18, 36 detainees were killed in a locked van by security forces. Acts of unmatched vindictiveness since August 14 have claimed some 2,600 lives besides thousands of injuries. In an effort to cover up the unparalleled violence by skewing the body count, victims' families have been pressured by morgue officials to sign certificates fraudulently declaring suicide to be the cause of death. The latest state-led massacre against protestors was carried out on October 6; at least 57 demonstrators were gunned down and hundreds were injured as they marched in support of democracy and opposition to the military coup. It is alarming, but not unforeseen, that only four policemen have been charged for the death of the 36 prisoners: their trial is ongoing. None of the other perpetrators of the aforementioned crimes have been arrested, much less prosecuted.,,,,,
https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-awakening/ahmed-safwat/egypt%E2%80%99s-bloody-coup-d%E2%80%99etat
Yes, there has been violence, but most of it aimed at the Moslem Brotherhood NOT by the Moslem Brotherhood.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/four-traits-sisi-hitler-and-mussolini-have-common-1427651880#sthash.A9lRxn4z.dpuf
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/four-traits-sisi-hitler-and-mussolini-have-common-1427651880
That has been a problem in Egypt for a long time. Heck, a few years ago the Muslim Brotherhood announced that should they be voted into power, they would destroy the pyramids. Actually several smaller and lesser known sites in Egypt have been defaced or destroyed by religious vandals in the last few years. What I love is that groups like IS or Muslim Brotherhood want to destroy pre-Islamic historical sites but they will happily use the latest in weapons and transportation. 
