Explosion targets convoy of Egypt's interior minister

PanARMENIAN.Net - An explosion on Thursday, Sept 1 targeted the convoy of Egypt's interior minister in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district, security officials and state television said. The minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, survived the attack, The Associated Press reported.

The officials said it was not clear whether the late morning explosion was caused by a suicide car bombing or an explosives-laden car detonated by remote control.

Egyptian state television gave a different account of the incident. It said an explosive device was tossed from the rooftop of a high-rise apartment building near the Nasr City residence of Ibrahim, who is in charge of the country's police force. The device detonated near the convoy of the minister shortly after it left the residence.

State television said several people near the explosion were injured but that there were no fatalities. Police were searching for suspects in the area but no arrests have yet been made, it said.

After the attack, Ibrahim said it was "not the end but the beginning" of a new wave of terrorism.

Nasr City is a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which ousted President Mohammed Morsi hails. It was also the site of a sit-in protest by his supporters that was stormed by police on Aug 14, killing hundreds.

The military ousted Morsi July 3 after nationwide protests against his rule, and has held him in a secret location since.

State prosecutors announced on Sept 1 that after almost two months in detention at a secret location, Morsi would stand trial for inciting murder and violence.

The charges relate to the deaths of at least seven people during clashes between opposition protesters and Brotherhood supporters outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in Cairo in December 2012.

Fourteen other senior Brotherhood figures, including Mohammed al-Beltagi and Essam al-Erian, will be tried on the same charge.

Besides, a court in Cairo ordered the closure of four television stations, including the Brotherhood's Ahrar 25 TV and al-Jazeera's Egyptian affiliate Mubasher Misr, saying they were operating illegally. Following the ruling, thousands of supporters of Morsi took to the streets in towns and cities across Egypt to denounce the military-backed interim government.

The marches in the capital, the Nile Delta, Upper Egypt and along the Suez Canal were held under the slogan "The coup is terrorism", a reference to the government's portrayal of its crackdown on the Brotherhood as a fight against terrorism.

Hundreds of people in Nasr City, an eastern suburb of Cairo, chanted "the revolution will continue" and "down with military rule".

Interim President Adly Mansour warned that "internal and external forces" would "spare no effort to block the implementation" of his transition plan, which envisages an amended constitution to be put to a referendum within months and parliamentary elections to be held by early 2014.