| The article fails to note that the Rafah border crossing into Gaza was opened yesterday. Nor does it note whether the gate was closed prematurely in response to this attack. Perhaps there is no connection this time. |
The interior ministry said in a statement that an improvised bomb placed under a car detonated as the security director’s convoy was passing in El-Moaskar El-Romany Street.
Egypt’s prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek has ordered that the High State Security and Sidi Gaber prosecution inspect the scene and take statements from the injured.
The attack comes days before Egypt is set to hold the 2018 presidential elections, which will take place from Monday to Wednesday.
Egypt's interior ministry and army have been beefing up security nationwide ahead of the elections, where incumbent President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is facing the head of the Ghad Party Moussa Moustafa Moussa.
No group has so far grabbed credit for the Alexandria attack.
Saturday’s liquidation attempt is the first against a security official since end of 2016, which witnessed a number of attacks that included a failed liquidation attempt on a senior judicial official in September 2016, and the October 2016 liquidation of an army brigadier general who had previously served in North Sinai, where the army’s war against terrorism is concentrated.
It is also the first major attack in the Mediterranean city since the April 2017 bombing of St Mark's Cathedral, which killed 18 people during Palm Sunday celebrations.