A Friday morning explosion in the vicinity of the Cairo Security Directorate left four dead and 76 injured, according to Ministry of Health spokesman Mohamed Fathallah. The Ministry of Interior issued a statement revealing that a car bomb had exploded in the vicinity of the directorate around 6:30am. General Mohamed Gamal Shawqi, head of the explosives department in the ministry, told state television that more than 500 kilograms of explosives were used in the bombing. Sinai-based Jihadi group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the explosion in a sound recording it published via Twitter on Friday. The explosion, which targeted the directorate in the Bab Al-Khalq district, caused massive damage to the opposing Islamic Art Museum, with Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim announcing in a statement that the museum was totally damaged and will be rebuilt. The presidency announced a statement promising retribution for "the martyrs and the injured in the terrorist attacks", saying that the perpetrators of those attacks will be "strictly punished". Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi condemned the attack, deeming it as "a desperate, villainous attempt to ruin what the Egyptian people done on the course of fulfilling the roadmap", in a statement issued on Friday. El-Beblawi added that "terrorist attempts" will not meet their intended goals of inspiring fear and creating chaos, stressing the government's efforts to arrest the perpetrators of the attack.
