Egypt: Police arrest failed bomb suspect

Egypt: Police arrest failed bomb suspect

Egyptian authorities reported that “A man suspected of throwing a homemade bomb at a synagogue in central Cairo was arrested on Tuesday“. No one was hurt and no property was damaged in the attack early Sunday.  

 

The Ministry of Interior revealed that Gamal Hussein, a 49-year-old tailor, was arrested in the Garden City district where the embassy of the United States is located. He was going to the US embassy to request political asylum, according to the ministry.

 

His arrest follows forensic tests on a bag thrown from a fourth- floor window of a hotel opposite the Chaar-Hachamaim synagogue. He has a previous conviction for drug abuse and trafficking.

 

The bag reportedly contained four cans of petrol, a litre of sulphuric acid, cotton, a box of matches, and a primitive detonator.

 

The attack on the synagogue, a century-old remnant of Cairo’s once-thriving Jewish population, was the first on a tourist attraction in Egypt since a makeshift bomb killed one French tourist and injured 21 other people in the city nearly a year ago.

 

Cairo was once home to thousands of Egyptian Jews, all but a few of whom left the country 50 years ago, following hostilities between Egypt and the Israelis.