“A vehicle suddenly stopped in front of the building, the driver jumped out and fled on a motorbike that was following the auto”, the ministry said in a statement.
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The powerful blast in northern Cairo’s district of Shubra came in the middle of the night, an AFP journalist said, as Egyptian security forces are being targeted by ISIL waging an insurgency.
Emergency services reported six wounded people have been taken to hospital.
Militants based in Sinai who support Islamic State, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria and has a presence in Egypt’s neighbour Libya, have proven resilient despite military operations against them.
Earlier this week, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed a tough counter terrorism law that gives Egyptian authorities sweeping surveillance and detention powers.
A statement circulated on Twitter by supporters of the group, Sinai Province, said the bomb was a reprisal for the execution of six of its members convicted of carrying out an attack north of Cairo, in 2014. Egypt claimed to have killed more than 100 militants in repelling the assault, and acknowledged the deaths of just 21 troops, though several news reports at the time put the military toll at about three times that. It created a large hole in the street and damaged the windows and outside walls of the security building as well as other surrounding apartment buildings. The claim, which said the group was made up of defected Egyptian army officers, could not be verified.
There has been an increase in insurgent attacks in Egypt in recent months. The death sentences were carried out in May. In June, Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was assassinated by a massive bomb in a tightly guarded Cairo neighborhood.
Security forces also responded violently to Brotherhood protests and demands that Morsi be reinstated, setting off clashes that left more than 1,000 people dead.
A similar statement emerged last month following a bombing outside the Italian Consulate in Cairo.
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Human Rights Watch condemned the new legislation on Wednesday saying it “erodes basic rights”. The law establishes special courts, stipulates harsh penalties for offences defined as terrorism-related crimes, and imposes fines for journalists who contradict the state’s account of an attack.
