Six hurt in car bomb blast in Cairo

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Thursday 20 Aug 2015 - 09:27 Makkah mean time-5-11-1436 (Image from the Guardian) Cairo, (IINA) - At least six people were wounded early on Thursday in a car bombing near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb, news agencies reported citing Egyptian Ministry of Interior. The blast happened close to the national security agency building in Shubra Al-Khaima, a neighbourhood on the northern edge of the Egyptian capital. According to media sources, six police officers were said to have been injured in the explosion in the northern Shubra district of the city. There were no reports of any deaths. "A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped out of it and fled on a motorbike that followed the car," a ministry statement said. "The car exploded wounding six policemen," it added. The statement added that the six officers had been taken to a hospital and that the building was damaged. Television footage from the scene also showed damaged buildings. The sound of the explosion echoed across Cairo just before 2am (midnight GMT), rattling windows and waking sleeping residents miles from the blast. The Associated Press reported that for blocks around the blast site, glass from blown-out windows could be seen on the street. An increase in insurgent attacks has taken place in Egypt in recent months. In late June, the country’s chief prosecutor was assassinated in a daylight bombing in the capital. Thursday’s explosion comes days after Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi signed into law new anti-terrorism legislation that critics say will muzzle political opponents and the news media. Militants based in northern Sinai who are affiliated with ISIS group have been behind many of the recent bomb attacks in Cairo. But no one has yet claimed to have carried out Thursday's attack in the capital. SM/IINA