Suspected extremist is arrested after backpack fire near US embassy in Cairo
Officials said the 24-year-old Egyptian wanted to ‘commit an act of aggression’, but chemicals in backpack caught fire before he could do so
A man whom Egyptian officials described as embracing “extremist ideas” was detained on Tuesday near the US embassy in central Cairo after a bottle containing flammable chemicals caught fire in his backpack.
There were no casualties, and the embassy said on its Twitter account that it was resuming normal business after police finished their investigation at the scene.
A statement released by Egypt’s state information service named the suspect as 24-year-old Abdullah Ayman Abdesamea.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that he embraces some extremist ideas and was intending to use them to commit an act of aggression,” the statement said.
A witness said she heard a blast and then saw a man with a backpack that had caught on fire close to the Semiramis Hotel, across the road from the embassy.