Update: MB, suicide bomber blamed for Mansoura explosion

Hundreds of Mansoura residents targeted the properties of Muslim Brotherhood members in the Nile Delta city on Tuesday, claiming the group was responsible for the bombing outside the police headquarters — which claimed at least 13 lives, and injured more than 130 others.

Earlier in the day, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a written statement denouncing the bomb attack and dissociating itself from it, adding that the act was “a direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people and demands an enquiry forthwith so that the perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice.”

This statement and other denunciations, however, did not succeed in warding off popular outrage. State media continued to denounce the Brotherhood as an “outlawed organization,” while Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi went even further to claim: “The Brotherhood has revealed it ugly face as a terrorist organization.”

The prime minister’s office added that the perpetrators of this act of terrorism would soon be apprehended and brought to justice.

Following prayer services and funerals for the dead, angry mobs are reported to have set fire to vehicles, along with other properties, belonging to Mansoura’s leading Brotherhood members.

Brotherhood businessman Abdel Rahman al-Barr reportedly had one of his company trucks torched, while another local Brotherhood chief, Yasser Shahin, had his car set alight.

Other targets, including Brotherhood-owned shops and companies, were reportedly targeted by angry mobs. Despite the material losses, human casualties were not reported.

Effigies of the Brotherhood’s top leadership were hung near the site of Tuesday’s bomb blast. Many bystanders could be seen carrying photos and posters of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the military’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

Angry locals chanted, “The people demand the execution of the Brotherhood.” Others chanted slogans in solidarity with the country’s security forces: “The army, police and people are one hand.”

Interior Ministry statement

The Interior Ministry claimed the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber who drove past the barricades and crashed a car into the building, according to a statement issued earlier Tuesday.

The statement said body parts and car parts were found at the scene of the explosion.

Efforts are still underway to identify the alleged suicide bomber and the car, the statement added.

The explosion occurred around 1 am Tuesday, causing the building’s side facade to collapse. Several police cars were destroyed and nearby buildings partially collapsed, including the Mansoura City Council, the National Theater and the United Bank, a Ministry of Interior statement read.

A report by state-run news agency MENA quoted an unnamed security source at the ministry as saying initial investigations show that a car bomb was used to target the security directorate, causing its side facade to collapse.

Residents question official reports

However, residents of the area said that the street on the side which collapsed is normally barricaded off, blocking any cars and pedestrians from going through, making it hard to park a booby-trapped car there.

Mohamed Abdel Wahed, coordinator of the April 6 Movement in Mansoura, told Mada Masr the attack seems “orchestrated.”

He explained that as the street on the side of the facade that collapsed is usually closed, only police cars are parked inside.

“Something isn’t right, it feels calculated,” he said.

Abdel Wahed also said he had noticed unusual activity around the directorate for the past two days.

“Yesterday I drove by and noticed several police cars that are not usually there at that time,” he said.

This skepticism was also echoed by Ahmed Hassan, member of the Democratic Front in Mansoura.

“If it’s a car bomb, how did it park on a street like this?” he asked, confirming that the street is blocked off.

Hassan said the explosion happened during a meeting at the directorate and suspects that someone from inside helped the perpetrators.

Khaled Abdel Rahman, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists, raised the same questions but reiterated that it is a violent attack nonetheless and disrupts Egypt’s political course.

Abdel Rahman also held the Interior Ministry responsible for the attack, even indirectly, for not securing the area surrounding the directorate.

“The fact that an area like this wasn’t properly secured raises a big question mark around the Interior Ministry and its performance,” he said.

Eyewitnesses said people gathered around the directorate following the explosion, forming popular committees to protect the area while chanting against the Muslim Brotherhood.

The popular committees morphed into protests staged Tuesday, as anger became palpable among thousands who gathered. They held pictures of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, head of the Armed Forces, and chanted “The army, the police and the people are one hand” and “The people demand the execution of the Brotherhood.”

“People already assumed that the Muslim Brotherhood committed the act,” Hassan said.

Hassan and other eyewitnesses said the explosion rocked the entire city, and that the glass facades of stores on neighboring streets were shattered.

Abdel Rahman said that residents of Mansoura showed solidarity and flooded to hospitals to donate blood “as if it were a state of war,” adding that many doctors also volunteered to help.