A car bomb exploded outside the Italian Consulate in downtown
Cairo early Saturday morning, killing at least one person and significantly
damaging part of the building, authorities said.
Nine others were
injured in the blast, the health ministry said.
No group
immediately claimed responsibility.
Egypt has seen
escalating attacks by Islamist militants. The Saturday incident was the first
attack targeting a consulate or an embassy in recent years.
None of the
victims were consulate staffers, Italy's Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo
Gentiloni said in a tweet.
"Italy is
not intimidated," he added.
The consulate is located in the heart of the city on a busy
intersection. The Italian Embassy is in a different neighborhood.
The timing of
the blast -- early in the morning on a weekend -- helped minimize casualties.
On week days, the area is teeming with pedestrians and vehicle traffic.
"There's
significant damage to the side of the building, a wall has collapsed and there
was blood on the debris," photographer David Degner told CNN from the
scene.
The explosion
damaged the side of the consulate facing a vacant lot.
Degner said he
saw at least one burned and twisted wheel.
Police pushed back a crowd of several hundred people who
converged on the blast site, Degner said.
Increasing attacks
Militants have killed hundreds of
policemen and soldiers since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsy
in July 2013.
Early last week,
the chief prosecutor was killed in a car bomb targeting his convoy. Two days
later, ISIS-aligned Ansar Beit Al Maqdis (now called the "State of
Sinai") militants attacked 15 army outposts in North Sinai killing 21
soldiers. Following an hours-long battle, the army said it killed over 200
terrorists.
The government
is discussing a new terrorism law that was criticized by local rights groups
and the Journalists' Syndicate as counterproductive and unconstitutional.
Tourism
targeted
Previously, militants mostly targeted
Egyptian government officials and security forces.
But four people
were killed and 14 wounded when Ansar Beit Al Maqdis targeted a bus of South
Korean tourists traveling from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into Israel in February
2014.
That month, it
warned all foreigners to leave the country.
Egypt's army has
struggled to crush the militants but the attacks go on.
In June, two assailants were killed and one
injured in a thwarted attack at
Karnak Temple in Luxor, a popular destination for tourists.
The Egyptian
government has been trying to lure back tourists for the summer high season.
Tourism
represents 11.3% of Egypt's gross domestic product and 19.3% of its foreign
currency revenues, Egypt's State Information Services says.
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