Egypt calls deadly car explosion that killed 20 a 'terrorist' attack

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi on Monday called the car explosion that took place near a cancer institute here earlier today as a "terrorist incident" in which at least 20 people were killed.

"I extend my deepest condolences to the Egyptian people and to the families of the martyrs who died as a result of the cowardly terrorist incident in the vicinity of the Kasr Al-Aini area yesterday evening," the president wrote on Twitter.

"The car contained explosives, and the collision led to their detonation," the interior ministry said in a statement.

"It is estimated that the car was being transported to a location for use in the execution of a terrorist operation," the statement read.

It added that the car was driving in the wrong direction the previous night (local time) when it collided with three other vehicles, causing a major blast.

The attack was carried out by the Hasm group, a local Islamic terror group.

Al Jazeera reported around 40 people were wounded in the incident.

The explosion caused a blaze that forced the partial evacuation of the National Cancer Institute, the health ministry said. Around 78 patients at the institute were transferred to other hospitals following the blast.

The state media further reported that all of the wounded were in a stable condition except for three who were taken in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Khaled Megahed, a spokesman for the health ministry, said at a press conference on Monday that patients in the ICU suffered "several burns of varying degrees".