The consulate bombing was followed by the abduction and apparent beheading of Croatian engineer Tomislav Salopek, which the ISIL-affiliated Sinai Province group claimed on August 13.
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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.
Live feed from private Egyptian television channel CBC showed extensive damage to buildings in the district, which is about 6 miles from Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Its past similar attacks all led to few casualties or deaths, mostly among police.
At least 27 people, including several policemen, have been wounded in a vehicle bomb attack in front of a police building in Cairo, according to Egypt’s interior ministry.
Experts said the group appeared to have changed its strategy in its fight against the Egyptian authorities. The attacked believed possibly targeting state infrastructure. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, as the Sinai outfit was known before it pledged allegiance to the IS group past year, claimed responsibility.
The six men were convicted of killing soldiers in attacks carried out in the months after the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Its homegrown status likely makes it more attentive to local sentiment.
The bomb was detonated around 2 a.m., and all of Cairo felt the impact.
The blast happened just before 2am close to the national security agency building in Shubra al-Khaima, a neighbourhood on the northern edge of the Egyptian capital.
The building houses a centre for investigating threats to national security. The building’s windows were blown out and its facade was left cracked and crumbling, while parts of a wall surrounding it were destroyed.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Primarily targets military personnel and policemen.
At Thursday’s blast site, a tragic sense of resignation was palpable. We are not living in a normal state here.
Hours after the blast, the area has already been cordoned off while policemen are on hand to prevent onlookers – even those showing press credentials – from approaching. It declared that “soldiers of the caliphate” had carried out the bombing in retaliation for a raid by security forces previous year north of Cairo.
Egypt has been racked by a wave of assaults since President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi overthrew Morsi and launched a heavy crackdown towards his supporters and dissent generally. Hundreds have been killed and thousands jailed.
In response to Barakat’s death, the cabinet also passed a new anti-terror law allowing hefty punishments for a broad definition of terrorism charges and requested a faster appeals process, a move critics viewed as restricting basic legal rights, but that Sisi said would help bring terrorists to justice faster. Journalists can be fined for reporting that contradicts Defence Ministry statements.
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Egypt has lacked a legislature for 3 years, and since being elected somewhat over a yr in the past, el-Sissi has single-handedly handed dozens of legal guidelines.
