Egypt: Huge explosion in Greater Cairo left 29 injured and was claimed by ISIS

An exposion site in Greater Cairo
(Image: Ahram Online)

Huge explosion occurred in Greater Cairo early on Thursday, 20 August, when a car bomb went off in front of the State Security Building in Qaliubiya’s Shubra El-Kheima district. Shubra El-Kheima is located north of Cairo and is considered being a part of Greater Cairo. An explosion was so powerful that it was heard in many districts of Cairo including Dokki, Zamalek and Downtown, according to the accounts of Cairo residents.

An explosion left 29 people injured, among them 6 policemen and police officers and 7 conscripts. Other wounded are civilians. The blast left no deaths, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Interior. Egyptian Ministry of Health in its turn reported that most of the wounded received minor injuries. They were treated at the nearby hospital, while some of the injured were released from the hospitals and sent home.

An explosion caused severe damage of the façade of the State Security Building and destroyed part of its perimeter wall. A huge crater was left by the car bomb on the pavement in front of the building. The blast also damaged several neighboring buildings and several vehicles parked nearby. Egyptian Minister of Antiquities also stated that the morning explosion caused serious damages of the historical building of Mohamed Ali Palace located close to the explosion site.

According to Egyptian police and Ministry of Interior, the bomb went off early in the morning on Thursday. A car suddenly stopped in front of the State Security building, the driver left it and threw the bomb. He escaped the site immediately with the motorbike that followed him.

Egypt’s Sinai based jihadist group Ansar Beyt Al-Maqdis, affiliated with the extremist terrorist ISIS group, has claimed responsibility for the Thursday bombing in Cairo. This group is responsible for the series of massive attacks of Egyptian Armed and security forces in Sinai and terrorist attacks in Northern Sinai and in other Egyptian cities as well including Cairo.

An explosion came three days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed his presidential decree approving the new controversial counter-terrorism law that will boost the ability of the state military and security forces combating jihadists, according to Egyptian officials. Though, this law was denounced and strongly criticized by Egyptian and international civil rights and human rights activists and journalists as well as this law will apparently crush civil freedoms in the country and will strengthen the state control of all the spheres of life in Egypt.