CAIRO
By Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
The Egyptian government does not aim to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, government spokesman Hani Salah said Wednesday.
Only hours after an explosion struck a security directorate in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura early Tuesday morning, reports emerged that the government had officially designated the Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist" group.
At least 15 policemen were killed and more than 100 others injured when a powerful explosion rocked the Daqahliya Security Directorate early Tuesday, according to the Interior Ministry.
Moments later, Egypt's state-run MENA news agency quoted cabinet media adviser Sherif Shawqi as saying that interim Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi had officially named the Brotherhood a "terrorist" group.
Al-Beblawi himself, however, said he did not want to "jump to conclusions" regarding the party responsible for the attack.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Salah said that the government's priority was to end terrorist attacks. "We are working towards achieving this goal by all means necessary," he said.
"Designating the Brotherhood a terrorist group is not an objective for the government itself, nor is it the utmost concern, yet whoever is responsible for [Tuesday's] attack is surely a terrorist," Salah added.
The Muslim Brotherhood, for its part, has issued a statement condemning the bombing.
"[The Brotherhood] considers this act a direct assault on the unity of the Egyptian people and demands an immediate inquiry so that the crime's perpetrators might be brought to justice," the group said in a statement.
In September, a Cairo court officially banned the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, dissolving its affiliated NGO and freezing its assets.
Since the July 3 ouster of president Mohamed Morsi – a Brotherhood leader himself – at the hands of the military, Egypt's new army-backed rulers have launched a wide-ranging crackdown on Islamist figures and groups.
Authorities have detained hundreds of the Brotherhood's top and mid-ranking leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and two top aides.
Much of Egypt's pro-army media, meanwhile, has continued to portray the crackdown on the Brotherhood and Morsi's Islamist allies as a "war against terrorism."
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