December 24, 2013 | Quoted by Matt Bradley and Leila Elmergawi, The Wall Street Journal
Egypt Blames Muslim Brotherhood for Apparent Suicide Bomb, 14 Dead
Egypt's government blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for an apparent suicide bombing of a police headquarters in the Nile Delta region, calling it a terrorist attack.
The death toll from the explosion the city of Mansoura early Tuesday rose to 14 from 11 in initial reports, state media said. More than 130 people were injured.
“The initial investigations suggest a suicide bomber was in the truck filled with a huge amount of explosives that caused the blast right outside the building,” the Interior Ministry spokesman said, adding that authorities were still investigating and uncovering evidence.
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The scale and ferocity of the attack in Mansoura point to Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis, an al Qaeda-linked group that has claimed responsibility for some of the larger attacks over the past several months, said David Barnett, a research associate at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Those attacks included an attempted assassination of the interior minister, who is in charge of security forces.
The attack in the Delta came two days after Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis warned the military to withdraw from its base of operations in Sinai or face an escalation of violence.
If those militants can now reach targets in mainland Egypt, outside their stronghold in Sinai, it would indicate the group is strengthening, Mr. Barnett said.
“I think the attack points much more toward Sinai jihadists than the Brotherhood. But the easy out is for the authorities to point toward the Brotherhood,” he said. “It supports the theory that Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis is moving toward bigger and bolder, rather than attacks of convenience.”