On Sunday at least 53 people were killed in clashes between supporters of opponents of Egypt’s former Muslim Brotherhood-linked president Mohammed Morsi. Today at least eight Egyptian security officials were killed over three specific attacks targeting Egyptian security forces.

The New York Times described the recent attacks as indicating a shift in extremist strategy, with anti-government forces “resorting to random or isolated acts of violence.” The Times also suggested that jihadists may be expanding beyond the northern Sinai – where they have largely limited their activities – into the Egyptian territory’s southern, tourist-heavy areas.

The jihadist infrastructure in the Sinai Peninsula is one of the world’s most extensive, and German intelligence believes that it has made Egypt the world’s main training ground for jihadists. An ongoing army campaign to uproot that infrastructure has relied heavily on U.S. security assistance.

Attacks on Egyptian civilian and military institutions, however, are being conducted not just by Al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups but also by Brotherhood members throughout the country. An Egyptian court today declared that it had seen enough:

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was dealt another blow as a panel of judges on Monday recommended that the group’s party be dissolved. Meanwhile, violence continued to grip the country, leaving nine dead. The recommendation, which will be delivered to a Cairo court, said the party is an outlawed group, according to Al-Ahram newspaper. The Brotherhood formed its political wing after the uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the group swept presidential and parliamentary elections.

[Photo: Euronews / YouTube]