CAIRO, Sept. 25 -- Egyptian officials are labeling as a hoax reported threats against Croatia by Egyptian Muslim militants, but Croatian Ambassador to Egypt Daniel Bucan said Monday he has asked Egyptian authorities to take extra security measures at the Croatian embassy. The threats were allegedly made by a spokesman of an Egyptian Muslim militant group and reported in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat, which is also printed in Cairo. Egyptian officials consider the threats 'a hoax,' but 'promised to do what is necessary,' Bucan said in a telephone interview. 'It's my duty as the head of the mission here to take all precautions for protection,' the ambassador said. Al-Hayat Monday quoted a man who claimed he spoke for the radical Islamic 'Vanguards of Conquest' group that retaliatory action would be taken against Croatia if the country turns Talaat Fouad Qassem, a militant leader living in exile, over to Egypt. Croatia was reportedly considering an extradition request by Egypt after Qassem, an Egyptian- born Islamist who took political asylum in Denmark, was reportedly arrested by Croatia authorities in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, under an alias, Ibrahim Yaqoub Ezzat. Bucan said his government officially informed Denmark on Wednesday that Ezzat was arrested Sept. 14 as a foreigner without identity documents and that a Zagreb court ordered him to pay a fine, leave the country within 24 hours and not re-enter for one year. Zagreb told Copenhagen that authorities established that Ezzat's whereabouts were no longer known and that he was assumed to have left the country.
Bucan said he did not know whether Ezzat and Qassem were the same man. Qassem was sentenced to death in his absence in December 1992 by a military court for his alleged involvement in a violent campaign by Muslim militants to topple Egypt's secular government and install Iranian-style theocratic rule. The Vanguards were among active militant groups in the insurgency, claiming responsibility for at least three attempts on the life of Prime Minister Atef Sedki and two members of his Cabinet. The ambassador denied there have been any contacts between his country and Egypt over the affair. 'Those (who made the threat) will realize that Croatia has nothing to do with the matter,' Bucan said. He said there was only a small Croatian community in Egypt, consisting of four diplomats and between 20 to 30 nationals, mostly Croatian women married to Egyptians. Meanwhile, Egyptian security forces Monday arrested 25 suspected Muslim extremists in the violence-plagued southern province of el-Minya. Security sources said they were suspected of membership in the militant el-Gamaa el-Islamiya, or Islamic Group, which claimed responsibility for the attempt on the life of President Hosni Mubarak in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in June. No link was made between the arrests and the attempt on Mubarak. The sources said they were part of a security sweep of hideouts for many activists waging hit-and-run attacks on police and other targets in their campaign against the government.
