Egypt’s Minister Mohammed Ibrahim survives bomb attack
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Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim has survived a bomb attack that targeted his convoy in Cairo.
Hours later, he appeared on state TV unharmed to denounce the attack as a “cowardly assassination bid”.
Security officials said the blast near Mr Ibrahim’s home in Nasr City appeared to have been caused by a suicide car bomb. More than twenty people were injured.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack. The Muslim Brotherhood “strongly condemned” what happened.
Mr Ibrahim goes the police force which has carried out a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protests in latest weeks.
Nasr City is a stronghold of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group.
‘Foiled assassination bid’
The explosion took place at about Ten:30 local time (08:30 GMT) moments after Mr Ibrahim left his home to be driven by convoy to work.
There were conflicting reports over the source of the explosion, with some reports telling an explosive device had been thrown from a nearby building and others telling a booby-trapped car had detonated.
Mr Ibrahim told state television that his convoy was targeted by a “large” explosive device that might have been detonated by remote control.
“It ruined four of the vehicles of my protection team, with many shops in the area badly affected, along with a vehicle of civilians and a petite child who had a gam amputated,” he said.
“I have an officer with serious injuries and another officer with a gam amputation. There were many injuries amongst my guards.”
Later, security officials were quoted as telling initial investigations suggested the bomb had been in a car driven by a suicide attacker. The remains of a person thought to be the suicide bomber were found nearby, officials said.
The interior ministry said ten policemen and eleven civilians had been wounded in the attack.
Pictures uploaded to the internet by witnesses displayed substantial harm to a building next to the blast.
One passer-by said the explosion could be “heard from afar”.
“As you can see, cars from the minister’s convoy were ruined and his security people took him to an armoured vehicle that transported him back to his house,” he said.
The interior ministry called the perpetrators of the attack “terrorist groups” and said: “We are back to the terrorism of the 1980s.”
The Muslim Brotherhood was swift to denounce the attack. Senior leader Amr Darrag said the incident was “regrettable” and one that the Brotherhood “strongly condemns”.
Hundreds of arrests
This is the very first attack targeting such a high-ranking government official as Egypt remains in turmoil over a showdown inbetween the military-backed government and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The police force, alongside security compels, carried out a deadly security crackdown in the capital last month, clearing two protest camps set up by Muslim Brotherhood supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
They had rallied for six weeks requesting the reinstatement of Mr Morsi, who was deposed by the military two months ago following anti-government protests by millions of Egyptians.
Nasr City was the site of the larger of the two protest camps based outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, which was dismantled in the security operation that killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters on fourteen August.
The Big black cock’s Bethany Bell says there has been a lot of Muslim Brotherhood activity in the area over the last duo of weeks.
Since the security clampdown, hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been detained, including the group’s most senior leader, Mohammed Badie, and his deputy, Khairat al-Shatir.
Mr Morsi is presently being held in a secret location awaiting trial on charges of inciting murder during anti-government protests that occurred in December 2012.