Egypt Declares Muslim Brotherhood 'Terrorist' Group After Bombing

Egypt’s government has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, blaming the Islamic fundamentalist group for a domestic car bombing which killed or injured dozens.

Two explosions ripped through a police headquarters in the Nile Delta province of Mansour late on Monday, December 23, killing at least 14.

The true extent of the attack was not yet known at the filing of this report. The dead and wounded were still being counted and the death toll is expected to rise as many victims were still trapped inside the crumbling building. While no group has claimed credit for the attack, it comes one day after the Egyptian jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem released a statement warning law enforcement and security forces to abandon their posts or face “the anger of Allah.”

This is just one of many such attacks in that ancient country since last July when President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was deposed as Egypt’s president and imprisoned at a naval base.

For nearly two years the Muslim Brotherhood held top offices in Egypt’s government, including the presidency. Now, that favored status has become completely reversed as the Brotherhood found its strict Islamic ideals going unrealized in Cairo. As its extremist frustration grew, the Brotherhood finally decided to leave behind peaceful, democratic institutions and take up a tactic of terror.

Since then Egypt has been wracked with protests, violence and bombings.

The Sinai Peninsula has seen some of the worst attacks since July. For instance, in the second week of December, an Egyptian security forces camp in Ismailiya, near the Sinai Peninsula, was targeted by a car bomb, injuring some 35 policemen.

In October, another attack occurred at a security headquarters in Ismailiya, killing five soldiers.

Soon after, Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an assassination attempt in northeast Cairo in September.

But with this bombing, the government in Cairo has finally had enough. Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi has now declared the country’s Muslim Brotherhood movement a “terrorist” organization.