Gavel – file photo

CAIRO – 7 May 2018: Egypt's Attorney General Nabil Sadek referred a total of 555 suspects to a military trial on Monday over charges of belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Sinai Province (ISIL-SP) and committing more than 60 attacks, the General Prosecution said in a statement.



As per the statement, the defendants – 216 arrested and 339 fugitives – formed 43 cells and committed 63 terrorist attacks against police and military personnel in North Sinai.



The charges include the killing of Major Ahmed Hassan, deputy chief of Al-Qosimah police station; military officer Ahmed Mohamd el-Sayyed Abdel-Razek; and 10 military conscripts. They also were charged with targeting 19 armored military vehicles.



The list of defendants included the fugitive Tarek el Zomor, former chairman of the Building and Development Party. Zomor is accused of funding terrorist activities in Egypt following the July 2013 revolution, Al-Shorouq newspaper reported on Sunday.



Zomor was among the terrorists who assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade on October 6, 1981 while celebrating the 1973 victory against Israel.



Zomor served a prison sentence before he joined the Salafist Building and Development Party formed after the January 25th Revolution. He is currently the chairman of Al Jama’a Al-Islamiyya and the Building and Development Party. He was also a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. He is charged with a number of terror-related cases and inciting violence.