At least one person was killed and over a dozen wounded when a bomb exploded outside a security forces camp in Ismailia. An initial statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry said 18 people have been injured, including six civilians.
Security sources provided higher figures of the number of wounded to press outlets. For example, AFP and Reuters reported that at least 35 people have been wounded.
It is not immediately clear whether the attack was the result of a suicide bomber, car bombing, or an explosive device planted near the camp. Following the explosion, gunfire was reportedly heard in the area.
Egypt’s Prime Minister Hazem el Beblawi condemned the attack and said those behind it will not succeed in disrupting the country’s ongoing political process, Al Ahram reported.
Thus far no group has claimed responsibility. On Oct. 19, the Sinai-based Salafi jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) conducted a car bombing attack near a military intelligence building in the city of Ismailia.
Since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi on July 3, there have been at least 256 reported attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, most of which were carried out against Egyptian security forces and assets, according to data maintained by The Long War Journal.
Ansar Jerusalem has claimed responsibility for a number of these attacks as well as other attacks outside the peninsula. The al Furqan Brigades, a group which emerged following Morsi’s removal, has also taken credit for a number of attacks outside the Sinai Peninsula in recent months.
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