Explosion in Cairo

[Glyphdoctor]

Half the city from Mohandiseen to Maadi was woken up by the sound of a large explosion about 20 minutes ago. I saw smoke rising up from what looks like the beginning of Qasr al-Aini Street but it might have been closer to downtown. No one knows what it was.

[Glyphdoctor]

ِِِThe bomb was by the Cairo Security Directorate which is across the street from the Islamic Museum, which apparently has had its whole side destroyed.

[LovelyLadyLux]

That is absolutely awful........terrible terrible TERRIBLE

[Chocolate Eclair]

Also a subject in the News section, 8.50am 3 people killed and over 20 injured. Unjust violence to people protecting the Country. Special thoughts to the families of the victims.

[Glyphdoctor]

Now there are reports of a bomb going off in the area of the Doqqi Police Station (which is across the street from the Cairo Sheraton) and perhaps at the Behoos Metro Station in Doqqi further up Tahrir Street.

[Glyphdoctor]

Now reports of another bomb going off at Kubri al-Khashab in Bulaq al-Dakrur.

[Chocolate Eclair]

British news reporting at least 5 people killed in second explosion at a Metro Station in Giza thought to be at Dokki.

[Remus]

BBC News Orla Guerin this morning: 'There is nothing so far to connect the
recent Cairo bombings with the MB.'
Hmmmm.

[Glyphdoctor]

Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility already.

The bomb near Behoos is confirmed. It was planted near some amn al-markazi trucks and at least one person was killed.

[HEPZIBAH]

ِِِThe bomb was by the Cairo Security Directorate which is across the street from the Islamic Museum, which apparently has had its whole side destroyed.

This was printed by Egyptian Streets

Islamic Art Museum, one of the greatest in the world, extensively damaged with historic antiquities lost forever.

‪#‎Egypt‬'s Minister of Antiquities has announced that the damage to the Islamic Art Museum, established in the 1850s, is in the tens of millions of dollars.

The Minister also expressed his sorrow at the complete destruction of dozens of historic Islamic art pieces, but vowed work would commence to attempt to restore other pieces that were partially damaged.

The Islamic Art Museum in ‪#‎Cairo‬ houses one of the most extensive and important collections of Islamic art in the world. The Museum displays priceless Islamic art work from all periods of Islamic history, including one of the rarest copies of the Quran.

Until 2010, the Museum had been closed for renovations that lasted eight years. Upon reopening, it quickly became one of the world's most important Islamic Museums.









Photo Source: http://egyptianstreets.com/2014/01/24/h ... destroyed/

[Remus]

Reminiscent of the coordinated London bombings in 2005.
Not only a police headquarters, but (ironically? accidentally?)
the recently renovated and stunningly beautiful Islamic Museum.

Beit al-Maqdis? Hamas? MB? Possibly all in cahoots?

Results?
Resignation/sacking of the Interior Minister?
Reintroduction of the State of Emergency?
So-called 'roadmap' abandoned?
More fears of atrocities tomorrow?

Exactly their objectives.

I hope the above questions are an over-reaction.

[Bombay]

Reminiscent of the coordinated London bombings in 2005.
Not only a police headquarters, but (ironically? accidentally?)
the recently renovated and stunningly beautiful Islamic Museum.

Beit al-Maqdis? Hamas? MB? Possibly all in cahoots?

Results?
Resignation/sacking of the Interior Minister?
Reintroduction of the State of Emergency?
So-called 'roadmap' abandoned?
More fears of atrocities tomorrow?

Exactly their objectives.

I hope the above questions are an over-reaction.

Or none of the above.

[DJKeefy]

Cairo hit by three bomb blasts on Friday, killing 5

Three separate bomb attacks took place in Greater Cairo on Friday morning, killing at least five people and injuring dozens of others, on the eve of the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The violence began when a large blast ripped through a police building in central Cairo, killing four and injuring 76 others, according to the health ministry.

Hours later in Giza, one person was killed when a primitive bomb exploded after being thrown at a moving police vehicle near a metro station, deputy Giza security chief Mahmoud Farouk told state TV. At least 11 others were reportedly wounded in the attack.

In a third explosion, a small bomb went off later on Friday morning at a police station in Talbiya district, also in Giza, near the pyramids. The attack did not cause any casualties, the interior ministry said.

"It's a vile, desperate attempt by evil terrorist forces to disrupt the success Egypt and its people have achieved in the [transitional] roadmap and the passing of the new constitution," Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi commented, in reference to the Cairo bomb.

The first explosion, which took place at the Cairo Security Directorate in Bab El-Khalk district, blew out the windows of the building and stripped off parts of its façade.

According to a statement by the interior ministry, a car exploded at the cement barriers surrounding the main Egyptian police headquarters in central Cairo. The attack took place at around 6:30am local time and was heard across several parts of the capital.

TV footage showed wrecked floors of the multi-storey building and a damaged facade of the nearby Museum of Islamic Art. The minister of state for antiquities told journalists in a statement after touring the site that some artefacts and items inside the museum had also been damaged. He said the 19th-century museum building, which was recently rennovated in a million-dollar project, will need to be "rebuilt."

An Ahram Online reporter at the scene an hour after the blast said she saw a badly mangled vehicle stained with blood parked in front of the police compound. Some of the building's walls have collapsed and a gaping crater was left in the ground.

The attack has also caused water pipes in the area to explode, and vacuum excavators were sent to remove the water pooling in the street, the reporter added.

The violence came only one day ahead of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, raising the spectre of further violence. Police have been set to deploy around the country to secure key security sites.

A spate of recent explosions in densely populated areas has raised fears that militant activity in the border Sinai Peninsula, which has spiked since Morsi's removal, would take its toll on other parts of the country.

"They don't want the people to celebrate," Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters while inspecting the explosion site in Cairo, adding that he was certain that "millions would take to the streets" on Saturday to celebrate the revolution nonetheless. He added that the "despicable attack" would not hamper police "in their fierce war against black terrorism."

After the explosion, large crowds of onlookers gathered at the Cairo site, chanting slogans demanding the "execution" of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

The group's official English language Twitter account has denied responsibility for the Friday attacks, saying that it "strongly condemn(s) cowardly bombings in Cairo, express(es) condolences to families of those killed, demand(s) swift investigations."

The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation by the cabinet in December, although it has persistently denied any links with ongoing terrorist attacks.

In December, a bomb attack at a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 16 people, mostly policemen.

A bomb also exploded outside a Cairo court just before polls were to set to open in last week's constitutional referendum, leaving no casualties.

An Al-Qaeda-inspired group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks in which scores of policemen and soldiers were killed. The group says the violence is in revenge for the killings and arrests of Islamists as part of a broad security crackdown. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

The group also claimed a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92374.aspx

[Glyphdoctor]

Just had our 4th bomb of the day. Another one in Haram Street. Reports of at least one death this time.

[Bombay]

Fourth bombing in Greater Cairo on Friday

Cairo’s Haram district witnessed an explosion at Radobis Cinema theater on Friday, hours after three bombings hit three different spots in Greater Cairo.


One dead according to state TV.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92444.aspx

[Angela]

http://pic.twitter.com/wCQiBd3lXC

This is flying around on Twitter at the moment. Apparently it's a statement by Ansar Beit el-Maqdes warning people to stay away from squares tomorrow. I'm not sure of its authenticity.

[DJKeefy]

Museum of Islamic Art CCTV captures Cairo police HQ blast

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