WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The Muhammad Jamal Network and its founder, Muhammad Jamal, were declared terrorists, the U.S. State Department announced Monday.
The network and Jamal were designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those who provide support to terrorists or terrorism acts, the department said in a release.
Jamal went from Egypt to Afghanistan in the late 1980s to train with al-Qaida and learned how to build bombs, the State Department said. Returning to Egypt in the 1990s, Jamal became a top military commander and leader of the operational wing of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Jamal has been arrested multiple times by Egyptian authorities for terrorist activities and was jailed for years. The State Department said Jamal developed connections with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Qaida senior leadership, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leadership.
Jamal formed the Muhammad Jamal Network he was released from an Egyptian prison in 2011 and established several terrorist training camps in Egypt and Libya, the State Department said. AQAP provided funding to the organization and Jamal has used the AQAP network to smuggle fighters into training camps. Suicide bombers have trained at MJN training camps, and Jamal established links with terrorists in Europe, the State Department said.
In November, Jamal was arrested again by Egyptian authorities, who found on his confiscated computer letters to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in which Jamal asked for assistance and described his networks activities, including acquiring weapons, conducting terrorist training and establishing terrorist groups in the Sinai.
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