A bombing at police headquarters on Tuesday morning in an Egyptian Nile Delta City killed 15 people and wounded more than 100, the Associated Press reported.
Officials were meeting inside the headquarters to discuss plans for a constitutional referendum when the deadliest bombing occurred since the attacks began, according to the AP. The vote on the referendum is set to take place on Jan. 14-15.
The bombing brought down the wall of a five story building, set fire to the dozens of police cars parked near the headquarters and damaged numerous buildings surrounding the headquarters, the AP reported.
Health Ministry spokesman Mohammad Fatah Allah said in a statement two top officers were killed in the attack, and Mansoura's security chief lost one of his eyes, according to Egyptian state news agency MENA, the AP reported.
Officials are placing the blame on the Brotherhood, made up of Morsi loyalists, as the government continues to depict the Brotherhood as violent and dangerous, according to the AP.
The Brotherhood denied and condemned the attack and are accusing the Egyptian government as using the group as a scapegoat, heightening the pressures on the government by anti-Islamists to stop the Brotherhood, the AP reported.
The vote set to take place on Jan.14-15 would be a major step since the removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July, the AP reported. As the date of the vote draws near, political tensions and attacks are increasing with the Brotherhood protesting the referendum.
Since the major coup against the Brotherhood, more Morsi supporters have been arrested including Heshman Kandil, the prime minister who served while Morsi was president, who was arrested on Tuesday and sentenced to serve one year on old charges, the AP reported.
Prime Minister el-Beblawi said in a press conference that pro-Morsi protesters and the Brotherhood are to blame for the Tuesday attack, calling it a "maximum offense," the AP reported.
But the Brotherhood released a statement on Tuesday, as well, and said the bombing is a "direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people," adding that the government is "exploiting" the attacks to target the group and "create further violence, chaos and instability," the AP reported.
