Attack outside Cairo hospital raises questions about Egypt's anti-terror policies
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to "defeat brutal terrorism," but some are voicing concern that his anti-terror policies are the cause of an explosion in a central Cairo neighborhood.
Egyptians are reeling from the shock of a deadly blast that rocked the central Cairo neighborhood of Manial just before midnight Aug. 5. The explosion that occurred outside the Cairo University-affiliated National Cancer Institute (NCI), an oncology hospital and research center, left 22 people dead and dozens injured. The death toll may rise further as some of those injured are in critical condition.
Initial reports by the pro-government Youm7 and other Egyptian news sites said an oxygen tank exploded inside the institute and firefighters were heading to the hospital to extinguish the blaze. But Cairo University quickly contradicted the news accounts, saying the explosion was caused by a car collision outside the hospital, causing extensive damage to the facade of the building.
Security cameras captured images of a car traveling in the wrong direction on a one-way street running alongside the Nile River in the area outside the NCI minutes before the eruption. The video shows a massive fire breaking out, presumably the vehicle itself bursting into flames. Images of patients, including sick children, being evacuated from the hospital quickly circulated on social media, evoking shock and dismay among Egyptians.
In a statement published on its official Facebook page Aug. 5, the Interior Ministry said a speeding car, which was reported stolen some months earlier in the Nile Delta province of Menoufia and carrying explosives that would have been used in a prospective terrorist attack, collided with three cars heading in the opposite direction, causing it to detonate its charge. While there was no mention of the intended target of the potential attack, the Interior Ministry's statement accused Hasm, a militant group purportedly linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, of carrying out the attack and said investigations were underway to identify and hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
