Cairo: Egyptian presidency on Wednesday denied a report in a Saudi newspaper that President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi had been the target of a botched assassination attempt last month.
“This report is completely baseless,” presidential spokesman Alaa Yousuf told the official Middle East News Agency.
“The president did not face any assassination attempt. The presidency deals in all transparency with the people and does not hide anything.”
Saudi newspaper Al Madina, citing an unnamed security official, reported this week that Egyptian security agencies had foiled in October an alleged attempt to kill Al Sissi near the presidential palace in Cairo.
According to the report, Al Sissi was being driven in a motorcade when his bodyguards suspected a nearby car. When the guards approached its 30-year-old driver tried to escape, but was arrested and the car was found to be packed with explosives, the paper alleged.
Due to security concerns, Al Sissi, an ex-defence minister, shunned street rallies when he ran for presidency earlier this year.
In a TV interview during his campaign, Al Sissi disclosed that he was the target of at least two assassination bids following the army’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in mid-2013.
“I am not intimidated by assassination attempts because I believe that one’s life ends according to God’s will,” Al Sissi, known as a devout Muslim, said at the time.
Al Sissi, who took presidential office in June, lives in an undisclosed residence and his public appearances are heavily guarded. Egypt has seen a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist insurgents since Mursi’ overthrow.
