Africa

Home page

Africa

Union leaders kidnapped ahead of Egypt's constitution referendum

08 January 2014 00:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Al-Aaeda-inspired militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed responsibility Tuesday for the kidnapping of four senior leaders of Egypt's labor union in Sinai, reported state-run Ahram online, APA reports.

A statement from Egypt labor union said that the four labor leaders were kidnaped in Sinai while on their way to attend a labor conference to encourage citizens to take part in the referendum on constitution which is scheduled to take place on January 14 and 15.

"The incident is aimed at terrorizing Egyptians and preventing them from going to referendum, Ahram quoted Abdel-Fattah Ibrahim, head of Egypt's Labor Union, as saying. He added that nothing will prevent Egyptians from going to the referendum. Ibrahim added that the Union is communicating with military and police to know any new developments.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis previously claimed responsibility for several terror attacks that hit Egypt since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, a Brotherhood-led pro-Morsi coalition called on Egyptian people to boycott the coming referendum on constitution. Violent protests have been recurrent since the military ousted Morsi after millions of Egyptian demonstrated to demand his resignation.