At least 14 people are believed to have died in a large explosion that destroyed a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city north of Cairo early Tuesday morning, according to the state news agency and a security official. Some 200 people were injured in the blast.
The Egyptian government accused the Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack. Cabinet spokesman Sherief Shawki said Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi had officially declared the group a terrorist organisation.
The Muslim Brotherhood, however, condemned the attack in an emailed statement from the group’s London press office released hours after the explosion.
“The Muslim Brotherhood condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack on the police headquarters in Mansoura (region),” the statement said.
“The Muslim Brotherhood considers this act as a direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people and demands an enquiry forthwith so that the perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice.”
Among the injured from the blast at Daqahliya security headquarters in the Nile Delta province of Mansour, was the police chief of the province General Sami al-Meih.
Most of those killed were policemen inside the security headquarters. Many bodies are still believed to be buried under the debris and the death toll is expected to rise, the official said.
An initial investigation indicated that the explosion was the result of a car bomb.
The attack came a day after an Al-Qaida-inspired group called on police and army to desert or face death at the hands of its fighters.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or the Champions of Jerusalem, said it considers Egyptian troops to be infidels because they answer to the secular-leaning, military-backed government.
The group and others based in the Sinai have been blamed for a surge of attacks against security forces since the July coup that toppled the country’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. In response, Egypt’s armed forces launched a military offensive against militants in the Northern Sinai province in August.
Speaking at a public forum on Monday, military spokesman Ahmed Mohammed Ali said so far the operations have resulted in the killing of 184 militants and the arrest of 803 others. He said about 25 percent of those killed and arrested are foreign fighters, but didn’t provide further details.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is believed to have ties with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, and officials have said other foreign militants have found refuge in Sinai during the ongoing turmoil. – AP, Reuters, dpa