Egypt’s interior ministry has said that body parts found at the site of bomb attack on the interior minister’s convoy on Thursday may belong to the perpetrator.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an assassination attempt on Thursday morning when a bomb detonated near his convoy in Nasr City in eastern Cairo. At least 22 people, including ten policemen and a child, were injured. Several shops and vehicles were also damaged in the blast.
The ministry’s latest statement said that “initial indications suggest the involvement of terrorist elements” in the incident.
It also said that body parts had been found at the site and are currently being examined, adding that the perpetrator “placed the bomb in a boot of a car that was parked at the roadside.”
Initial investigations showed at least 50kg of explosives or other chemicals were used in the blast, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.
The ministry also asserted that it will continue its investigations to reveal the circumstances behind the incident and bring those involved to justice.
Egypt’s presidency condemned the bomb attack, vowing not to let those who committed the crime escape justice.
“The presidency will not allow terrorism, which was defeated by the people in the 1980s and the 1990s, to return once again,” it said in a statement in the name of interim president Adly Mansour.
No group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Islamist terrorists carried out numerous violent attacks in Egypt, typically targeting state institutions, foreign tourists or local Christians.