EGYPT-BLAST/ITALY REAX Italian FM: Egypt bombing 'very serious terrorist attack'

Record ID: 147557

  • Title: EGYPT-BLAST/ITALY REAX Italian FM: Egypt bombing 'very serious terrorist attack'
  • Date: 11th July 2015
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FILE - 2015) (REUTERS) COLOSSEUM WITH TOURISTS WALKING NEAR MILITARY TRUCK MILITARY TRUCK NEAR COLISEUM POLICE OFFICERS OUTSIDE COLISEUM POLICE VEHICLES OUTSIDE COLISEUM
  • Embargoed: 26th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA15GG627XWE5LIXE4XWZZWT3XB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A bomb exploded in front of the Italian consulate in Cairo on Saturday (July 11), killing one person, officials said, raising the possibility that Islamist militants will open a new front against foreigners in Egypt.
    A security official told Reuters the blast was caused by a car bomb. State news agency MENA cited a senior security source as saying preliminary investigations indicated that a bomb was placed under a car near the consulate and remotely detonated.
    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the early morning blast, which caused heavy damage to the consulate. It shook other buildings downtown and could be heard in several surrounding neighbourhoods.
    Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said it was clear the Italian consulate had been the target of the bombing.
    "There is no doubt over the fact that the objective of the attack was the Italian consulate," he said during a news conference in Rome.
    Gentiloni said there were no Italian victims in the blast.
    "The attack against our consulate comes in a context in which we need to see it as a very serious terrorist threat, to which Italy will respond with firmness, without alarmism, and confirming in full our commitment in the international efforts against the Daesh," he said, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym.
    Egypt has witnessed a recent increase in attacks against tourism targets, including a suicide bombing near the ancient Karnak temple in Luxor last month.
    An attack on Westerners could signal a dangerous escalation of violence in the country, which is relatively stable in a region engulfed by militancy and sectarian conflict since the Arab Spring uprisings.
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