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Huge bomb rocks centre of Cairo Huge bomb rocks centre of Cairo
(about 2 hours later)
A huge car bomb rocked the centre of Cairo early on Friday morning, killing three people and injuring 40.  A large truck bomb has rocked the centre of Cairo, killing at least four people and injuring 76.
The bomb went off at Cairo's security headquarters on Port Said The explosion early on Friday morning – the eve of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak – struck the Egyptian police headquarters. A second blast was later heard in the city's Dokki district.
street, Egypt's interior ministry confirmed to the Guardian.  The blast occurred shortly after 6.30am, about half an hour after the closure of a nearby security checkpoint, according to Mahmoud Abdel Sattar, a 27-year-old sergeant on duty on the third floor of the building."A big truck exploded outside the fence – it didn't get inside the [forecourt of the] security headquarters itself," Sattar said. "After the explosion, a white private car with four passengers started shooting on the buildings as well."Sattar was hit by falling masonry. "There was gunfire between the two sides. Everyone started running and there were a lot of injuries."The blast caused a large crater outside the building that quickly filled with water. An official at the scene said it was 4 metres deep.The immediate aftermath was chaotic, said Abdelrahman Mohsen, a 27-year-old furniture maker who arrived on the scene shortly after the explosion, and helped to carry away the casualties."I saw at least four bodies on the floor, and then we carried four more," said Mohsen, who could not confirm if the victims were dead. "There were a lot of police conscripts going inside and trying to find their friends, and there was masonry falling down on them in front of the building."
"It was a car bomb," interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif told AFP. The explosion, heard from several miles away, smashed windows, collapsed house walls and warped the shutters of shopfronts.Onlookers
Police and health ministry sources said that three people were killed and up to 40 wounded. immediately blamed Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group of the
State television quoted witnesses as saying gunmen opened fire on buildings deposed president Mohamed Morsi, which has been scapegoated for a rise
after the blast and that at least three people had been killed. in terrorist attacks since his ousting. Officials have provided no
The blast was evidence of their involvement.
heard from several miles away in all directions, sending a large plume of smoke across the city and leaving a large crater outside the building. "The people demand the execution of
The blast destroyed a metal gate outside the multi-storey building the Brotherhood," chanted a crowd of bystanders, some of whom carried
and badly damaged its facade as well as that of a nearby Islamic museum. pictures of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted
Riot police pushed back hundreds of onlookers, some of whom chanted slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi.Two mobs attacked a van and a bystander suspected by some
The explosion came on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the of being members of the Brotherhood. Further down the road, police
2011 uprising that toppled Egypt's longtime autocratic ruler Hosni officers advised drivers with beards – a sign of religious piety – to
Mubarak. turn around to avoid being attacked.A Muslim Brotherhood-led
A Muslim Brotherhood-led coalition plans protests after Friday prayers coalition has planned nationwide protests after Friday prayers as part
across the country as part of their near-daily demonstrations against of their near-daily demonstrations against the overthrow of Morsi and
the July overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the recent the recent vote on the country's rewritten constitution.
vote on the country's rewritten constitution.
The state TV aired footage showing several wrecked and charred floors of
the high-rise security building with the pavement outside littered with
shuttered glass, pieces of bricks and rocks.