One civilian has died from wounds sustained in a bomb attack Thursday targeting Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, the health ministry announced on Friday.



The blast, which took place in Cairo's Nasr City, left at least 21 injured including six policemen and a child. Ibrahim was unharmed.



Initial reports said that the blast was the result of a car bomb. According to security sources, the owner of the car which exploded is currently being interrogated.



In his account, the minister said four vehicles among his convoy were damaged, along with a number of civilian-owned cars.



Some shops were also damaged in the blast.



Initial investigations showed at least 50kg of explosives or other chemicals were used in the blast, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.



Several security sources accused jihadists of being behind the attack.



Since the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi by the military on 3 July amid mass protests against him, police and security personnel have been subject to recurrent attacks.



In July, at least two bombings at police stations outside Cairo were reported. One, an explosion in the Nile Delta's Mansoura city, left one person dead.



Numerous police stations were also attacked across the country in the immediate aftermath of a bloody crackdown by security forces on pro-Morsi protest camps on 14 August. Video footage that went viral on social media networks showed an attack on a police station in Giza's Kerdasa that left at least nine policemen dead.



A security source said on Friday that at least 117 policemen have been killed since 14 August, while 1,063 have been injured.



The army has also been battling an upsurge in militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula, bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.



At least 25 police conscripts were executed after the vehicle they were travelling in was ambushed in an incident in north Sinai last month.



Dozens of soldiers and police have also been killed in drive-by shootings and rocket attacks in the province. Egypt's army has killed around 100 militants, some of whom are reportedly foreign, in recent operations.

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