16 Killed In Restaurant Firebomb Attack In Cairo (VIDEO)

At least 16 people have been killed in a petrol bomb attack at a restaurant in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

At least five others were wounded in the attack.

An Egyptian official said the attacker was a former employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the centre of the city, a bustling nightlife district popular with locals.

However, other media reports say that three masked men threw petrol bombs into the venue before fleeing.

Victims of the blast were burned to death or died from smoke inhalation. The restaurant, also a nightclub, was located in a basement which made escaping from the blaze almost impossible, officials said.

Video shot at the scene by an Egyptian news site showed thick, grey smoke billowing out of a doorway at street level as passersby tried to get close.

Flames could be seen inside the entrance, as one man used a fire extinguisher to try to tackle the blaze.

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Islamist militants have claimed a number of bombing and shooting attacks in Egypt, mostly against members of the security forces since the army toppled former President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests.

Gunmen killed four Egyptian security officials in a drive-by shooting on the outskirts Cairo last week, while only a few days earlier a car bomb exploded outside a hotel housing election judges in North Sinai’s provincial capital Al-Arish.

In October, a Metrojet airliner carrying 244 mostly Russian citizens exploded shortly after takeoff from Sharm-el-Sheik in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.  There were no survivors.

The Sinai branch of the so-called Islamic State (Daesh) claimed responsibility for the bombing along with a string of other attacks, however the group’s involvement in today’s outrage in Cairo is still unverified.
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