Ansar Beit al-Maqdis

Egypt has imposed restrictions on male citizens traveling to Turkey and war-torn Libya to stop them joining jihadist organizations like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a security official said Dec. 10.

Canada on Dec. 8 joined Britain in closing its embassy in Cairo to the public for security reasons, with neither country providing details about any specific threat.
      
The move comes amid increasing attacks by Islamist militants in Egypt and calls from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for attacks on Western targets.
      

An Egyptian court on Nov. 30 branded the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) operating in Iraq and Syria a "terrorist" organization, the official news agency MENA reported.
      
An Egyptian militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which pledged allegiance to ISIL earlier in November, has itself also been designated a terrorist organisation under a similar ruling.

Egypt's deadliest militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in a recording posted on its Twitter account on Nov. 10.
      
"We announce our pledge of allegiance to the caliph Ibrahim Ibn Awad... to listen and obey," the audio recording said, referring to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.