CAIRO -- A former army officer who is one of Egypt's most wanted militants called on fellow Egyptians to wage holy war against President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, describing him as a "new pharaoh" in a new recording.
The call purportedly by the militant, Hisham el-Ashmawi, came in an audio message reported Tuesday by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant messages.
Officials say el-Ashmawi has worked closely with the Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis militant group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State last year and is blamed for some of Egypt's most high-profile deadly attacks.
One military official said el-Ashmawi was named as a suspect in the July 11 bombing outside the Italian Consulate in Cairo that killed a bystander, the first attack on a diplomatic mission in Egypt. El-Ashmawi also was named as a suspect in the killing of the country's chief prosecutor late last month, the first successful assassination since the 1981 killing of President Anwar Sadat.
Two other senior security officials said el-Ashmawi was a major in the special forces dismissed in 2009. They said he faced a military trial for espousing radical ideas, leading to his dismissal.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Though officials say el-Ashmawi is linked to Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, el-Ashmawi is identified in the audio as the leader of the al-Morabtoon group, which is surfacing for the first time in Egypt. That group appears linked to al Qaeda, an Islamic State rival led by Egyptian militant Ayman al-Zawahri.
In the audio, a quote by al-Zawahri comes before el-Ashmawi speaks, criticizing el-Sissi.
"He is following the footsteps of his ancestor pharaoh, who declared himself God the great, using the worst type of torture and harassment of Muslims and using the deceptive magic of the media," el-Ashmawi says.
