Orla Guerin reporting in Cairo: ”The target is very high profile”
Five people have been killed and nearly 70 wounded after three blasts in the Egyptian capital that appeared to target the police force.
The attacks began with a powerful car bomb that exploded outside the police headquarters in central Cairo, killing four people and wounding 51.
Within hours, two other blasts occurred elsewhere in the city, killing one person and injuring 15.
The attacks come on the eve of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising.
The revolution brought about the removal of the country’s decades-long ruler Hosni Mubarak.
An al-Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem) has admitted responsibility for the attack on the police headquarters.
The group previously claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a security building in the northern city of Mansoura in December that killed 16 people and injured more than 100 others.
The authorities blamed Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood for that attack – something the group strongly denied – and declared it a terrorist group shortly afterwards.
Tense time
The explosion at the police headquarters in Cairo happened at around 06:30 (04:30 GMT) local time.
The powerful blast was felt across the city and black smoke could be seen rising over the scene.
Egyptian Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim said it appeared to be the work of a suicide bomber.
“Apparently, a lorry with two people stood in front of the building and suicide bomber blew himself up,” he said in remarks broadcast by state television.
Gunfire was reportedly heard soon after the blast.
More than 30 ambulances raced to the scene. Most of the wounded are now in hospital, the health ministry says.
There was extensive damage to the large concrete building with debris strewn across the street.
Around six police officers sat on the pavement outside and wept, an Associated Press photographer said.
The nearby Islamic museum and the National Archives building were also damaged.
The BBC’s Orla Guerin, reporting from Cairo, says the security directorate is a very significant target and should have been one of the best protected buildings in the city.
As people in Cairo were taking in news of the blast, a second explosion occurred in the Dokki district of the capital.
One person was killed and 15 were wounded in a blast that, according to one report, targeted police vehicles near the metro station.
A short while later, officials said a third device had been set off near a police station near the famous Giza pyramids. No-one was hurt.
The attacks come at a tense time, with security forces already on heightened alert ahead of the anniversary of the start of the uprising against Mubarak, our correspondent says.
The banned Muslim Brotherhood and its partners are planning demonstrations after Friday prayers across the country.
They are the latest in a series of regular demonstrations against the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July – a year after he became Egypt’s first democratically-elected leader.
Brotherhood supporters are also angry about recent moves to introduce a new constitution.
Interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi, speaking in a BBC interview before news of the blasts, set out conditions for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held within the next six months.
He said any supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood could take part if “he accepts the new constitution… refuses the use of force and he accepts the idea of a secular government, democratic one, open, no discrimination, no mixing of religion and politics, and accepting human rights”.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis
- Al-Qaeda-inspired Salafist jihadist group based in Sinai
- Name means Champions of Jerusalem
- Has claimed responsibility for recent deadly attacks around Egypt, and rocket attacks on Israel
- Group said it was behind bombing of police station in Mansoura in Dec 2013 which killed 16 people
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