WORLD IN BRIEF : EGYPT : Attack Fabricated, Muslim Cleric Says

Blind theologian Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mentor of many Muslim militants, denied any link with an attempt to kill Egypt’s hard-line interior minister and said the government fabricated the incident. The minister, Maj. Gen. Zaki Badr, 53, who has spearheaded past crackdowns on Islamic fundamentalists, escaped unhurt when a truck packed with explosives blew up near his motorcade in Cairo on Saturday. Security sources said police are searching for a number of members of the outlawed Islamic Jihad group, held responsible for the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Some security officials regard Abdel-Rahman as Islamic Jihad’s de facto leader. He maintains that no such organization exists.