Al Qaeda-linked militants planned suicide attacks US, French embassies in Egypt

An al Qaeda-linked militant cell had planned to carry out suicide attacks on the French and US embassies in Egypt.

Authorities announced that they arrested three Egyptians with links to al Qaeda and also seized 22 pounds of explosive materials in their possession.

According to the New York Post, the state news agency MENA reported, quoting investigators, that the investigations revealed that the suspects were intending to carry out terrorist bomb operations inside Egypt via suicide operations, penetrating the security cordon in front of the American and French embassies with a car bomb.

The agency said the suspects had escaped from prison during the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011.

Prior to that, one of them had been extradited to Egypt from Algeria and another had been extradited from Iran, where he had gone to join groups fighting US forces in Iraq and Gulf states, MENA reported.

He was caught by Iran in 2006 and deported to Egypt.