CAIRO – Twelve people were killed and 134 injured Tuesday in a suicide bombing that targeted the security headquarters of the Egyptian governorate of Daqhaliya, interior ministry officials said.
The dawn explosion, whose victims included military personnel and a civilian, came one month ahead of a vote on a new constitution key to the country’s transition from military-backed rule.
Egypt's general prosecutor has ordered an immediate investigation into the explosion, judicial sources said, while explosives experts have been deployed to determine the nature and type of the device used.
Sherief Shawki, spokesman for the interim military-backed government, blamed the blast on the Muslim Brotherhood group – whose supporters include former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi - and said Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi had officially declared the group a terrorist organization, according to Reuters.
Suicide attacks on soldiers and police have sharply risen in Egypt since the army ousted Morsi in July amid mass unrest against his rule.
In overthrowing Morsi, the army set out a political road map that is supposed to start with a mid-January vote on a new constitution and to be followed by presidential and parliamentary votes.
Most bomb attacks since Morsi's overthrow have occurred in the Sinai region, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Around 200 soldiers have died in Sinai since July.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived a suicide car bomb attack targeting his convoy near his home in Cairo last September.
Morsi's dramatic exit triggered a wave of violence that started with police attacks on his supporters' two main camps in Cairo on August 14 in which hundreds were killed.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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