General Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, head of Egypt's national security apparatus, told Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda on Sunday that the American University in Cairo (AUC) had engaged in "strange activities" potentially affecting the country's security and stability.

Abdel-Ghaffar added that Egypt's national security apparatus had made similar accusations in the past, but said that relations between ousted president Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal Mubarak, and AUC officials had "prevented any action from being taken in this regard."

Abdel-Ghaffar went on to accuse AUC of supporting foreign agendas, "intellectually, morally and financially," particularly during a series of violent clashes late last year between protesters and security forces in downtown Cairo.

However, AUC Counsellor Amr Salama, speaking to Ahram Online, said he had contacted Abdel-Ghaffar, who had denied making any such statements. Salama went on to say that he had asked Abdel-Ghaffar to issue an official statement on the issue, adding that AUC, too, would soon issue a formal statement regarding the allegations.

In his comments to the Kuwaiti newspaper, Abdel-Gaffar also asserted that Egyptian intelligence had recently managed to break up two foreign spy networks. One of them, he said, included four US nationals, while the other included an Israeli, a Moroccan and a Norwegian.

Both networks, he added, had been trying to collect information on Egyptian economy and society in the wake of last year's revolution.

Abdel-Ghaffar was further quoted as saying that the national security apparatus had uncovered certain "political forces" operating in Islamic guise, including certain Shia parties, which were attempting to sow confusion in Egypt's post-revolution political scene in the interest of foreign powers.