At Least 14 Dead, 130 Injured in Mansoura's Powerful Explosion in Egypt

Mansoura security directorate in Egypt was bombed on December 24, 2013. The security situation in the North Africa state is deteriorating., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

At least 14 dead, 130 injured in Mansoura’s powerful explosion

Ahram Online, Tuesday 24 Dec 2013

Explosion rocks the Nile Delta city of Mansoura early on Tuesday, damaging several buildings and leaving many casualties; Egypt's PM vows to hunt down perpetrators

Deadly bombings hit the Daqahliya security directorate early on Tuesday in Mansoura, Nile Delta, killing at least 14 and injuring 130 in what seems to be the worst terrorist attack yet since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The injury and death tolls, which are expected to further climb with eyewitnesses saying causalities were still inside the damaged building, were announced by Egypt's health ministry.

The head of Mansoura's security directorate was among the injured, Daqahliya governor Omar El-Shawadfy told Egypt's state television.

Al-Ahram’s Arabic site quoted an anonymous security source as saying that two bombs went off almost at the same time. The first bomb, he says, was planted in a higher floor in the building, the second in a car next to the security directorate.

A third bomb planted in another car was defused, the source added.

Photos of the Daqahliya security directorate were posted on Al-Ahram’s Arabic site shortly after the blast, showing the exterior walls of the building badly damaged. Vehicles parked in the area were also destroyed.

'Act of terrorism'

Egypt's Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the explosion, saying the attack aimed at obstructing a roadmap drawn up by the country’s interim rulers following Morsi's July ouster by the army amid mass protests against his rule.

“This is an act of terrorism that aims at frightening the people and obstructing the road map. The black hands behind this act want to destroy the future of our country,” Beblawi told Egyptian satellite channel ONTV.

“The state will do its utmost to pursue the criminals who executed, planned and supported that attack."

El-Beblawi refused to confirm that Egypt has decided to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, contradicting an earlier statement by one of his aides.

“Whoever is behind this act is a terrorist and will be brought to justice and punished according to the law. But I don’t want to anticipate the incidents," he added.

The final phase of Egypt's road map will begin next month when a referendum on the newly-drafted constitution takes place. It will be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections.

A good number of bombings have been executed across Egypt since the ouster of Islamist president Morsi.

On 24 July, an explosive device went off at a police station near the security directorate in Mansoura, killing at least one conscript and injuring 19.

Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, on 5 September, survived an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated near his convoy in northeast Cairo.

However, most bomb attacks since Morsi's overthrow have occurred in the Sinai region, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Around 200 soldiers have died in Sinai since July

Numerous police stations and churches were also attacked across the country in the immediate aftermath of the dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins in August in which hundreds were killed.More than 100 policemen were killed since.

An Islamist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, including the attempt to assassinate the interior minister.

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