An Egyptian government security building in Cairo was targeted in a vehicle bombing early Thursday where at least 29 people were injured in an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
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The bomber parked his auto outside the National Security building’s security cordon before fleeing on a motorcycle that had been following him, the ministry said.
“With this sweeping new decree, Egypt’s president has taken a big step toward enshrining a permanent state of emergency as the law of the land”, HRW’s Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director Nadim Houry said.
The sound of a large explosion shook Cairo just before 2am, rattling windows and waking sleeping residents across the capital. The building houses a center for investigating threats to national security.
Six policemen were wounded when the bomb blew up. Militants affiliated with the Islamic State, behind numerous recent bomb attacks in Cairo.
“Stabilising Egypt is critical to efforts to rebuild an economy hurt by turmoil since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak”, he said.
IS last week said it executed a Croatian hostage it had kidnapped west of Cairo, nearly a month after it bombed the Italian consulate in the capital, killing a passer-by.
The installment of wireless internet service at Cairo metro has been indefinitely postponed over “security concerns”, Transport Ministry source told Youm7 Friday.
Among the factions is a group, based in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, that has pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.
Journalists will be fined for contradicting the authorities’ version of any “terrorist” attack. IS said the attack on Thursday was retaliation for the Arab Sharkas, which is a reference to a deadly shootout site between security forces and militants in 2014.
ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on an affiliated Twitter account.
Egypt has lacked a legislature for three years, and since winning office after Morsi’s overthrow, el-Sissi has legislative authority and has passed dozens of laws.
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The Cabinet approved the draft law last month, two days after a auto bomb in an upmarket Cairo neighbourhood killed the country’s prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat.
