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Car bombing at Italian Consulate in Egypt's capital kills 1

 
Workers clear rubble at the site of an an explosion near the Italian Consulate in downtown, Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, July 11, 2015.  Italy’s foreign minister vowed that his country would not be intimidated after a deadly explosion Saturday morning killed one person and heavily damaged the Italian Consulate in the Egyptian capital. (AP Photo/Thomas Hartwell) TBH101
Workers clear rubble at the site of an an explosion near the Italian Consulate in downtown, Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, July 11, 2015. Italy’s foreign minister vowed that his country would not be intimidated after a deadly explosion Saturday morning killed one person and heavily damaged the Italian Consulate in the Egyptian capital. (AP Photo/Thomas Hartwell) TBH101
Published July 12, 2015

CAIRO — A car bomb ripped into the Italian Consulate in Cairo early Saturday, destroying a section of the historic building in a powerful blast that killed one Egyptian and marked the most significant attack yet on foreign interests as militants target the country's security forces.

A group calling itself the Islamic State in Egypt claimed responsibility for the bombing in a message circulated on social media.

Egypt faces threats from multiple insurgent factions, including the Islamic State affiliate in the restive Sinai that the military says killed at least 17 soldiers in a recent assault there. Security officials from several branches of Egypt's security forces previously told the Associated Press that that attack killed dozens more.

The bombing struck at about 6:30 a.m. local time, exploding in a side street in downtown Cairo near the building's back entrance and a busy highway overpass. Italian authorities said the consulate was closed at the time and none of its workers were wounded.

The blast killed a passer-by and wounded eight, one of whom is still in the hospital, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Egyptian Heath Ministry official Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told the Associated Press that the man killed had some of his limbs blown off.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi after the attack, saying in a statement: "We will not leave Egypt alone: Italy and Egypt are and will always be together in the fight against terrorism."

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Italy would increase security at Italian sites in Cairo and greater Egypt.

"This is not a challenge that the West will win by itself," he said. "It is a challenge that we will win together with the large majority of the Islamic community and of the Arab governments."

An Egyptian security official said investigators were reviewing closed-circuit video recordings from the area, noting that one vehicle that disintegrated in the explosion had license plates from the canal city of Suez.