Car Bomb Explodes At Italian Embassy In Cairo
Credit: CNN.com
July 11, 2015

The Italian embassy in Cairo was hit hard by a car bomb early Saturday morning.

CNN:

The consulate is located in the heart of the city on a busy intersection. The Italian Embassy is in a different neighborhood.

The timing of the blast -- early in the morning on a weekend -- helped minimize casualties. On week days, the area is teeming with pedestrians and vehicle traffic.

"There's significant damage to the side of the building, a wall has collapsed and there was blood on the debris," photographer David Degner told CNN from the scene.

The explosion damaged the side of the consulate facing a vacant lot.

Degner said he saw at least one burned and twisted wheel.

Militants have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013.

Previously, militants, including the ISIS-aligned Ansar Beit Al Maqdis (now called the "State of Sinai) mostly targeted Egyptian government officials and security forces.

But four people were killed and 14 wounded when Ansar Beit Al Maqdis targeted a bus of South Korean tourists traveling from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into Israel in February 2014.

That month, it warned all foreigners to leave the country.

Egypt's army has struggled to crush the militants but the attacks go on.

In June, two assailants were killed and one injured in a thwarted attack at Karnak Temple in Luxor, a popular destination for tourists.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast at the time of this writing.

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