Cairo bomb: Six hurt as massive blast destroys part of security building in suburb of Egyptian capital

The blast could reportedly be heard across the city

Caroline Mortimer
Thursday 20 August 2015 09:30 BST
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A soldier walks past the damaged security building in Cairo
A soldier walks past the damaged security building in Cairo

A massive car bomb has exploded near a security building in a residential neighbourhood of Cairo, the interior ministry has said.

So far there have been no reports of deaths from the blast, which destroyed a wall in front of the building early on Thursday morning.

Emergency services reported six wounded people have been taken to hospital.

Glass from explosion littered the surrounding streets in the surrounding Shubra el-Kheima neighbourhood and nearby water pipes burst, flooding the scene.

Reports suggest the noise of blast could be heard across the city.

A plastic surgeon, whose neighbouring clinic was severly damaged in the blast described the explosion as "like an earthquake".

Gawad Mahoud said: "We were here painting the office, and then it went off. It was like an earthquake, it blew the doors off and smashed all the windows in.

"The explosion sounded professional, it wasn't small-time."

The attack is one of a series of escalating assaults on security forces since Egypt's first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi in 2013 by the military.

No one has claimed responsibility so far but previous attacks have been claimed by a terroist group affilated to Islamic State in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

Additional reporting by AP

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