[This is a collection of news updates on Egypt compiled from multiple sources by the editors.]
Number Injured in Nasr City Bombing Rises to Twenty-Two
At least twenty-two individuals have now been reported injured in the aftermath of the bombing of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim`s convoy this morning, Khaled al-Kateeb—chairman of the Central Administration for Central Care—told the privately run newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY) late Thursday afternoon.
Ambulance Authority head Mohamed al-Ansary said that at least ten people were taken to the Medical Insurance Hospital in Nasr City, and at least eleven others were transported to the Police Hospital, AMAY reported.
Injuries included burns and broken bones, and some individuals received amputations, AMAY said. Several individuals were reported to be in serious condition.
A security source said that the police discovered human remains they believe may have belonged to the assailant, and are currently attempting to ascertain the victim’s identity, said state-run news source Ahram Gate.
The bomb was planted on the corner of Mostafa al-Nahas Street, which is the only exit for the minister’s convoy, according to a security source cited by Ahram Gate. The bomb was reported to have been placed in a plastic sack next to a pile of garbage and contained around fifty kilos of the highly explosive TNT or another chemical material, the source continued.
The hard line Islamist group Jama’a al-Islamiya has denied any connection with the assassination attempt, state-run news site Egynews reported Thursday afternoon.
The group issued a joint statement with its political arm, the Construction and Development Party, denouncing the incident. The statement said that the situation in Egypt is deteriorating and those behind the attack were attempting to sabotage reconciliation attempts.
The group stressed its disavowal of all acts of violence or terrorism, and called for an immediate investigation into the incident that would be communicated to the public.
At least four police officers were injured in the attack, one of whom is in serious condition. At least six low-ranking officers and nine civilians were also injured, including a British woman, a high-ranking Interior Minister official told Egynews, adding that four police cars were also damaged in the attack. The injured civilians included two women and a child who were in the street at the time of the bombing, reported AMAY, citing medical sources from surrounding hospitals.
The minister was not harmed in the incident. The explosive had targeted Ibrahim`s convoy in Nasr City as he headed to his downtown Cairo office, the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
No deaths were reported, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.
Four of the injured officers were in a police car ahead of the minister’s vehicle, according to Egynews. Police forces are currently combing the area for the assailants, and explosives experts are monitoring the frequency of the explosion to determine the type of bomb, the website added.
Following the explosion, members of the convoy exchanged fire with the attackers, said the state-run daily newspaper Al-Ahram.
Ibrahim was immediately transferred back to his house in an armored vehicle, security sources told AMAY.
Eyewitnesses said that a number of shops` facades were destroyed by the explosion. Security forces blocked the main road around the incident.
Ibrahim appeared on state television shortly after the attack to calm the people, and alleged that the explosive device was probably detonated remotely, a claim that was also made in the Interior Ministry`s statement. In the statement, Ibrahim also specified that a child and a low-ranking police officer lost a limb in the attack, Egynews reported.
Public Prosecutor Hesham Barakat ordered the State Security Prosecution to pursue immediate investigations into the assassination attempt. The State Security Prosecution is separate from the regular prosecution judiciary, and is considered an exceptional measure for national security cases.
Ibrahim survived a cabinet shuffle following former President Mohamed Morsi`s ouster by the military on 3 July. The deposed president`s affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood has led the Islamist group to protest his removal from office, igniting a deadly wave of violence over the last month. Recently, security forces arrested a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders on charges of inciting violence.
During Morsi`s last weeks in power, frictions between the presidency and the security apparatus intensified when security forces refused to intervene to crackdown on anti-regime protests
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
April 6 Founding Member Resigns
Founding member of the April 6 Youth Movement Engy Hamdy resigned from the leftist activist group on Thursday.
On her personal account on Twitter, she wrote, “I, Engy Hamdy, declare my resignation from the April 6 Youth Movement as it does not represent my views anymore, especially in the current phase the country is going through.”
Hamdy told Mada Masr that her main concern now is the constitution, which must “include several articles aiming at reaching the goals of the revolution,” she said. Hamdy added that she is currently contemplating affiliations with other political bodies, and would soon give a statement concerning that matter.
The activist told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that she hopes the April 6 Movement regains its status as the conscience of the society.
Hamdy helped to start the political movement in 2008, and since then held several different managerial posts, including official spokesperson and member of the political bureau.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Revolutionary Socialist Leader Detained in Suez
Haytham Mohamadeen, a labor lawyer and leader of the Revolutionary Socialists movement, was detained late on Thursday afternoon at an army checkpoint near the Suez Gates, according to the group`s official Facebook page.
The lawyer was on his way to Suez to meet with workers at the time of his arrest. He was reportedly then transferred to the Attaqa police station in Suez based on charges filed against by National Security.
The privately owned O News Agency (ONA) reported that Mohamadeen was detained because he refused to allow security forces to search his car and allegedly verbally assaulted an army officer, but Revolutionary Socialist member Hossam al-Hamalawy wrote on his Twitter account that Mohamadeen does not own a car.
Lawyer Ahmed Ibrahim, also a member of the Revolutionary Socialists, told Mada Masr that Mohamadeen was detained based on the charge of insulting a member of the Armed Forces. He said he plans to meet Mohamadeen at the police station.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Violent Attacks Continue in Arish
In the latest episode of violent attacks that occurred on Thursday, twenty-two-year-old Armed Forces officer Ahmed Mohamed was shot in the shoulder in the late afternoon by an unknown gunman in Arish, reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk.
He was transported to the Arish Military Hospital to receive treatment. Security forces are reportedly searching nearby buildings for the suspect.
Al-Reesa checkpoint in the Sinai city of Arish was also ambushed earlier in the day, reported privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY).
The attackers allegedly exchanged gunfire with police and army personnel, but no casualties were reported.
The strategically located checkpoint has been attacked forty-seven times since the January 25 revolution, with the most recent attack occurring on 20 August, according to AMAY. Attacks targeting police stations, military checkpoints and other government establishments have intensified in Sinai, particularly following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on 3 July.
Also in Arish on Thursday, AMAY reported that a military bulldozer hit a landmine, triggering a major explosion. Security forces are currently searching for suspects who placed the bomb.
A medical source in Arish Hospital told AMAY that a young man was shot dead by unknown assailants near Al-Qareea village. He was reportedly shot in the head, neck and chest.
On Thursday morning, an Armed Forces officer was killed in an attack at a checkpoint in the Ezz Eddin district of Ismailia, reported the state-run news site Egynews.
Two assailants reportedly opened fire on the checkpoint. The officer was shot in the neck and allegedly died immediately, said Egynews.
Security sources are currently searching for the assailants, who reportedly fled the scene after the attack.
These incidents of violence occurred in the context of a bombing on the minister of interior’s convoy in Cairo Thursday morning, injuring at least twenty-two as of late Thursday afternoon, according to officials from the Health Ministry. The minister was unharmed.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]
Islamist Militants Claim Responsibility for Suez Canal Attack
Kataeb Al-Forqan says it used rocket-propelled grenades to target Chinese-owned ship passing through Suez Canal on Saturday, vows more `bitter` assaults.
An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for Saturday`s attack on a Chinese-owned container ship passing through the Suez Canal, a global waterway between Asia and Europe.
Kataeb Al-Forqan released a fifty-one second video on Thursday showing two gunmen targeting rocket-propelled grenades at a passing ship, Panamanian-registered COSCO Asia.
The footage was emblazoned with an Al-Qaeda flag with the group`s name added at the bottom. One of the assailants cheered "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) as they fired at the vessel.
Suez Canal Authority head Mohab Mamish said the attack had "failed completely and there was no damage to the ship or the containers it carried." On Sunday, an army source said authorities had arrested three people who opened fire with machine guns on the ship.
In an online statement, the group said it claimed responsibility for "targeting the international shipping waterway which has become a safe route for crusader aircraft carriers travelling to attack Muslims, and a trade artery for infidel and tyrannical states."
The attack has heightened threats to shipping through the ninety-two-kilometer waterway, a major source of national income that generates about five billion US dollars a year in tolls.
Egypt has been rocked by political turmoil since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the army on 3 July in what his supporters called a "military coup." More than 1,000 people, including 100 security officers, have been killed in street violence after police cracked down on Islamist protest camps demanding Morsi`s reinstatement.
A wave of arrests has netted the top leaders of Morsi`s Muslim Brotherhood and least 2,000 other Islamists.
The statement condemned what it termed the "coup against Islam and its people," yet tacitly slammed Morsi`s Brotherhood when referring to those who gave "legitimacy to [ballot] boxes, not Allah and his prophet."
"We promise Muslims that we are preparing for knock out strikes against the regime, and its institutions," the statement titled `Democracy is Infidelity` added. "The coming is more severe and bitter."
The armed forces have tightened up security measures along the Suez waterway, officials say.
Egypt`s army is already battling an upsurge in militant activity by hard-line Islamists in the nearby Sinai Peninsula since Morsi`s exit. At least twenty-five policemen were killed there in an ambush last month.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Widespread Condemnation in Egypt for Bomb Attack
Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the attack and denied any connection with the attempt to assassinate the interior minister
The Muslim Brotherhood has condemned a bomb attack in Cairo targeting the convoy of the interior minister on Thursday, which left the minister unscathed but injured dozens of people.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated early near his convoy in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City. At least twenty-one people, including six security officers and a child, were injured in the attack, according to Egypt`s health ministry. Some shops were also damaged in the blast, along with four cars from the minister`s convoy.
The interior ministry, along with the army, has been on the receiving end of violent attacks in the two months since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in early July. Deadly attacks on state buildings and checkpoints in Sinai have killed dozens of policemen. The government accuses Morsi`s Muslim Brotherhood of inciting the violence, although leaders of the group have insisted they do not condone the attacks.
A deadly raid by police on Islamist-led protest sites in Cairo on 14 August left hundreds of protesters dead and thousands injured, setting off days of bloody violence around the country. More than 100 members of the security forces were killed in the ensuing violence and street clashes.
"The political disagreement with the Muslim Brotherhood cannot turn in to committing violence," Amr Darrag, a former minister and a leading member of the Brotherhood told Al-Ahram`s Arabic website, adding that he was shocked by the attack.
In an earlier phone call to satellite television channel Al Jazeera Mubashar Misr, Darrag had said that the Brotherhood condemned the attack.
"We strongly condemn the car bombing targeting the interior minister. Peacefulness is the only path."
"Carrying out such attacks to frame the Islamist groups and parties is an evil thing," said Darrag, echoing a sentiment expressed by other Islamist movements that the incident was "an attempt to frame Islamist groups and accuse them of terrorism."
Darrag stressed that dialogue channels should be open in order to end the current crisis, although he denied recent news reports that there have been ongoing talks between the Brotherhood and the current government through mediators.
Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and its political arm, the Building and Development Party, also condemned the attack and denied any connection with it. "Whoever stands behind this attack wants to cut off all avenues for national reconciliation in Egypt," said the ultra-conservative Islamist group. The group was involved in terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s but has since renounced violence.
The Wasat Party, an Islamist party allied with the Brotherhood, also condemned the attack on its official Facebook page and called on all Egyptians to do what they can to support national reconciliation.
Islamists blamed
Other political forces have accused the Brotherhood and its allies of being behind the assassination attempt.
Kamel El-Helbawy, a former leading member in the Brotherhood who is now a prominent critic of the group said that those responsible for the attack were those who had been defeated politically and wanted to return to power "at any price."
"I expect that other figures will be targeted because this is a part of a conflict and a desire for revenge," El-Helbawy, who was selected by the current government as a member of the committee amending the constitution, told Al-Ahram Arabic.
"We are returning back to early 1980s when violent Islamist groups fought against the regime."
Ahmed Darrag, a leading member in the anti-Morsi National Salvation Front, believes that the Brotherhood is responsible for the terrorist attack.
"The Muslim Brotherhood is mainly responsible for this attack, along with the groups that support it like Hamas, as well countries like the United States, Germany and the UK," Darrag told Al-Ahram Arabic.
The co-founder of the anti-Morsi `Rebel` (Tamarod) campaign, Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, condemned the assassination and insisted that Egypt would not be like Iraq or Lebanon.
"Terrorism will be defeated in Egypt regardless of what the international terrorist organisation wants," said Abdel-Aziz on his Facebook page.
The government also issued a short statement condemning the attempt. "This criminal act will not stop the government from confronting terrorism with all force and determination until stability returns to Egypt," it read.
The April 6 Youth Movement - Ahmed Maher Front was among the first movements to denounce and condemn the assassination attempt. "The April 6 Youth Movement condemns the assassination attempt on the interior minister and believes the perpetrators should be brought to justice soon," it wrote on its Facebook page.
"There is no alternative before us except to hurry in adopting transitional justice to resist the spread of terrorism once again in Egyptian society," said the revolutionary group.
The Popular Current movement also published a statement stressing its rejection of "transformation of a political disagreement into the language of explosives and assignations." The Nasserite group also restated its full support for the current government and its institutions, which it said were facing "black terrorism."
Hossam Bahgat, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, also condemned the assassination attempt.
"Mohamed Ibrahim, the interior minister, is a criminal and we have demanded his dismissal and trial since February, but the attempt to assassinate him is criminal and foolish and we may all pay the price," said Bahgat on his Twitter account.
Ibrahim was appointed as interior minister by then-president Morsi in January.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]
Egypt`s Cabinet Affirms Commitment to Fight Terrorism
Cabinet condemns the bomb attack targeting the interior minister on Thursday.
Egypt`s cabinet has condemned a bomb attack which targeted the convoy of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim on Thursday, and confirmed its commitment to fighting terrorism.
"In these circumstances, in which Egypt is facing danger resulting from the terrorist threat to our country, a threat which seeks to cripple Egypt through the use of violence, incitement of fear and sectarianism, the Egyptian government hereby asserts that it will continue to stand in the face of whoever tries to attack state security or the Egyptian people," read the statement.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated near his convoy in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City. At least twenty-one people, including six security officers and a child, were injured in the attack, according to Egypt`s health ministry. Some shops were also damaged in the blast, along with four cars from the minister`s convoy.
Initial investigations confirmed that at least fifty kg of explosives or other chemicals were utilized in the blast, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
"Just as the state commits itself to standing in the face of threats to its security, it also affirms its strong beliefs regarding the necessity of building an Egyptian democratic system that ensures the rights and freedoms of its people," added the statement.
Egypt`s army chief General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi denounced the attack on Ibrahim, stating that such acts are censured by all three Abrahamic religions.
In a message addressed to the interior minister, El-Sisi affirmed his trust in the police and their ability to take all security actions necessary to "cripple the terrorist threat."
"The army calls on the police to stand in the face of such crimes and arrest whoever disrespects the law and threatens Egypt`s national security," El-Sisi stated.
Furthermore, El-Sisi said that such attempts will only give confidence to the Egyptian "heroes" and render them more eager to fight terrorism and curb all sources of crime.
[This article originally appeared on Ahram Online.]