Blast near Cairo state security building wounds 29, IS claims responsibility

Agencies CAIRO, AUGUST 20 A car bomb near an Egyptian state security building and courthouse wounded at least 29 people early on Thursday, state television said. Security sources who inspected the site of the blast in Shubra al-Khaima, a Cairo suburb, said there was a burned-out vehicle and crater. Comments on Twitter indicated the blast, which heavily damaged the face of the state security building, was heard in several parts of the Egyptian capital. Shopkeeper Mohamed Ali said he saw a man park a vehicle that exploded after he stepped away from it. Militants based in Sinai, who support the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and have a presence in Egypt’s neighbour Libya, have previously claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces. Hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to eradicate militancy, which he has said is an existential threat to the Arab world and the West. Egyptian authorities have mounted the toughest security crackdown against militants in the country’s history, drawing criticism from human rights groups who accuse the government of stifling dissent. This month Sisi approved an anti-terrorism law that sets up special courts and protects its enforcers in the face of a two-year-long Islamist insurgency that aims to topple his government. The law has come under fire from human rights groups that accuse Sisi of rolling back freedoms won in the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. An Islamic State (IS) terror group affiliate on Thursday claimed responsibility for a massive car bomb explosion that occurred earlier in the day north of Egypt’s capital, Cairo. According to the interior ministry, the attack was carried out by the Ansar Beit el Maqdis terror group in Shubra El-Kheima district, Al Ahram reported. “A car blew up after the driver suddenly stopped in front of the state security building, exited the vehicle, and fled on a motorbike that was following the car,” the ministry said in a statement. A health ministry official confirmed that the bombing has caused no deaths. However, the injured included six policemen, the official added.