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Car Bomb Blast Hits Egyptian Police Compound

by Edward Yeranian December 24, 2013

Egyptian officials are blaming a car bomb for an early morning explosion that killed at least 13 people when it ripped through police headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

Shop owners and residents in the area worst hit by the deadly blast picked through the rubble of buildings whose facades were ripped open by the force of the explosion. Glass and chunks of concrete littered the area, and water flooded streets due to a ruptured water main.

Egyptian officials say the blast, blamed on a car bomb, also wounded more than 100 people. The police headquarters in Mansoura, a provincial capital, appeared to be the target. Most of the casualties were police conscripts.

​​Outside the gutted headquarters, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters that investigators would uncover what happened and find the suspects.

Ibrahim accused the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups of responsibility for the attack, while government spokesman Hani Sala'eddin told Sky News Arabia that interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi considered the Brotherhood to be a "terrorist group."

The Brotherhood's London press office, however, condemned the explosion, calling it a "direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people.

​​Interior Minister Ibrahim went on to say that the bombing would "not interfere with the political process" or the scheduled constitutional referendum on January 14 and 15. The referendum is part of a political "roadmap" back to democracy, announced by the Egyptian Army after it ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last July.

A middle-aged woman who lives near the blast site angrily denounced those who were behind the attack and other recent violence.

She said everything is death and destruction; everyone is tired of the turmoil and no one can sleep. Everyone, she said, wants security.

A group calling itself Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Egypt's security forces, including police and army convoys, and security headquarters in the southern Sinai. The group threatened more attacks in a statement Monday on militant websites.