In a significant change of tactics, Egypt's largest militant group yesterday said that it would no longer attack tourists or the tourism industry.
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, which claimed responsibility for the brutal killing of 58 foreign tourists in the southern town of Luxor last month, said in a statement sent to news agencies in Cairo that it had "taken this decision out of a sense of responsibility because it refuses to take advantage or use such a rejected incident [the Luxor attack] in the framework of our war with the Egyptian regime."
The group has been attacking tourists, policemen, senior government officials and Christians since it launched its bloody battle against the government in 1992.
More than 1,200 people, mostly police conscripts and militants, have died since then.
But many analysts were surprised when the Gama'a claimed responsibility for the events in Luxor on November 17th, not only because of the unprecedented brutality of the attack, which included rape and mutilation, but also because the group had reiterated a call for a ceasefire with the government less than two months before.
Yesterday's statement admitted that the group did not in fact order the massacre, which it said was carried out by "young and new members of the Gama'a . . . [who] were not assigned to carry out any work connected to tourism."
But while officials may be looking forward to a respite from the damaging, high-profile attacks on tourists, analysts say the statement confirmed a more dangerous trend of radical splinter groups operating outside the control of the leadership of the Gama'a.
A tough police campaign against the militants since 1992 has led to the arrest of most of the Gama'a leaders.
The remainder are abroad, from where the government alleges they mastermind the group's terrorist operations.
All are cut off from the rank-and-file, particularly those on the run from police in remote areas of southern Egypt.
The spectre of rogue bands of young zealots committing acts of carnage like Luxor in the name of Islam remains a troubling and very real by-product of the Gama'a leadership's apparent moderation.
"I doubt any of the Gama'a leaders, whether in prison or abroad, could control all the groups and sub-groups operating now," said Dr Hala Mustafa, author of two books on political Islam in Egypt.
Nobody knows how many of these groups exist, or who their leaders are. The brutality of the Luxor incident signals that they may be inspired by their Algerian counterparts.
The only thing that seems certain is that the socio-economic conditions that led to the rise of militancy are still prevalent in Upper Egypt.