CAIRO, Aug. 20 (UPI) — An Egyptian government security building in Cairo was targeted in a car bombing early Thursday where at least 29 people were injured in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
A vehicle detonated near the National Security Building in north Cairo’s Shubra el-Kheima suburb at about 2 a.m. local time. Six police officers were among the injured.
“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,” Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The Islamic State said it carried out the attack in retaliation of Egypt’s execution of six men who were accused of being connected to Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Islamist militant group that launched two separate attacks in January 2014 that killed at least six soldiers.
The men were charged last year with “planning terrorist operations, shooting at security forces, attacking military facilities and naval ships and being members of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis” and later convicted, according to Egyptian state media.
The security building was significantly disfigured by the explosion. The surrounding street, filled with cars, was left dilapidated.
The bombing comes days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed a strict, controversial anti-terrorism law after months of increased attacks by militant organizations, including Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, which renamed itself Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.
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