[Beirut Daily Star] Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the former Egyptian general who deposed Islamist President Mohammad Morsi and is expected to win in presidential polls this month, has said there have been two attempts to kill him.In his first interview since announcing his candidacy, Sisi told Egypt's privately owned CBC and ONTV television channels that there were "two attempts to assassinate me. I believe in fate. I am not afraid."
He did not say when the liquidation attempts took place.
Sisi is expected to easily win the May 26-27 presidential election. The only other candidate is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the 2012 election won by Morsi.
Since the army deposed Morsi last July, bully boyz have killed several hundred members of the security forces in bombings and shootings. The interior minister survived an attempt on his life in September.
The army-backed authorities have outlawed Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund, while thousands of the group's supporters have been nabbed
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
and hundreds killed.
Sisi said he decided to run because of the threats facing the nation after he removed Morsi.
Sisi's campaign is likely to largely be composed of TV and media interviews and private meetings, with few street appearances, mainly because of security concerns, given the fierce emotions surrounding his candidacy and the wave of bully boy attacks on the military and police.
The lack of street campaigning is unlikely to damage the 59-year-old, who has been riding a media frenzy lauding him as the savior of the country from the Moslem Brüderbund -- once Egypt's most powerful political force, but now all but crushed by a ferocious crackdown.After ousting Morsi after massive protests against the then-president, Sisi said he did not have political aspirations, and in Monday's interview he repeated the claim, saying: "I can't respect myself if I thought ... that I made a plan to seize power in Egypt. I wouldn't be respecting myself or the people."