Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack at the Italian consulate in Cairo on Saturday, in an escalation of a Sinai-based insurgency that suggests militants are opening a new front against foreigners in Egypt.
“Through God’s blessing, Islamic State soldiers were able to detonate a parked car bomb carrying 450kg of explosive material on the headquarters of the Italian consulate in central Cairo,” the group said on its Twitter account. “We recommend that Muslims stay clear of these security dens because they are legitimate targets for the mujahideen’s strikes.”
A security official told Reuters the blast was caused by a car bomb. State news agency MENA cited a senior security source as saying preliminary investigations indicated that a bomb was placed under a car near the consulate and remotely detonated.
The early morning blast caused heavy damage to the consulate. It shook other buildings downtown and could be heard in several surrounding neighbourhoods.
A health ministry spokesman said one Egyptian civilian was killed and 10 wounded. MENA separately said two policemen were among the wounded.
Italy’s foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni said there were no Italian victims in the blast. “Italy will not be intimidated,” he said on Twitter.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said militancy poses an existential threat to Egypt, other Arab states and the West.
One of the toughest security crackdowns in Egypt’s history has weakened the mainstream Muslim Brotherhood group, blamed by security officials for small-scale bombings. The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful movement.
Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, based in the Sinai, poses a major security threat. It has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army deposed president Mohamed Morsi of the Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests.
Egypt has witnessed a recent increase in attacks against tourism targets, including a suicide bombing near the ancient Karnak temple in Luxor last month.
An attack on Westerners could signal a dangerous escalation of violence in the country, which is relatively stable in a region engulfed by militancy and sectarian conflict since the Arab Spring uprisings.
A Western diplomat said he was aware of the explosion in front of the consulate but could not confirm that the building was the target.
The violence, and political turmoil triggered by the 2011 revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, have hurt Egypt’s tourism industry and economy.
Two weeks ago, a car bomb killed the country’s top public prosecutor and militants affiliated to Islamic State attacked several military checkpoints in North Sinai, in what was the fiercest fighting in the region in years.
The army said 17 soldiers and more than 100 militants were killed in those clashes.
Western countries are hoping Mr Sisi can maintain relative stability in the Arab world’s most populous country. But military operations in the Sinai - the epicentre of an insurgency led by Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, called Sinai Province - have failed to defeat militants there.
Egypt is also worried about spillover from militants who have been thriving in the chaos of neighbouring Libya, where Sisi has already ordered air strikes on Islamic State targets.
Afghanistan
Elsewhere, the top Islamic State commander in Afghanistan has been killed by a US air strike in the country’s east, officials said on Saturday, the fourth ex-Taliban who declared loyalty to the Middle East-based militants to be assassinated within a week.
Hafez Saeed was the leader of Islamic State in the “so-called Khorasan state”, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security said, referring to an old term the militants use to describe Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He was killed along with 30 other militants as they gathered in Achin district of Nangarhar province late on Friday, the intelligence agency said. It gave no further details of the air strike.
Reuters