Updated Jan. 24, 2014 2:40 a.m. ET
The Islamic Museum, across the street from the police building where the explosion occurred, was heavily damaged. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
A large explosion outside a downtown Cairo police building killed four people and injured dozens more early Friday, state television reported.
The blast, at about 6:30 a.m., tore through several floors of the large police facility. Authorities said the explosion appeared to come from a truck bomb, state television reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
It appears to mark a sharp escalation in a sustained campaign of insurgent attacks since the military ousted Egypt's first freely elected president last July, and comes a day before the third anniversary of the start of the popular uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak.
Mr. Mubarak's fall in 2011 led to a period of turbulent military rule before Egyptians elected the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi as president in June 2012. Mr. Morsi was ousted by the military last July 3, touching off violence as security forces cracked down on thousands of his supporters. More than 1,000 people have been killed by police during street demonstrations, and Mr. Morsi and thousands of Brotherhood leaders and members have been arrested on charges ranging from unauthorized protesting to espionage.
Mr. Morsi's removal also set off a series of attacks on police and military targets. At first mostly confined to the restive North Sinai region, they have recently encroached on the nation's center.
After a large bomb killed 16 police officers in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura in December, the government designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, exposing its members and supporters to harsh prison terms under antiterrorism laws. Rights organizations have criticized the terrorist designation as politically motivated, meant to justify the severe crackdown on the Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest and largest opposition group.
The Brotherhood has condemned acts of terrorism, and the government has offered no evidence of its involvement in the attacks. An al Qaeda-linked group, Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of them, including the Mansoura bombing.
Once thought of as an occasion to celebrate Egypt's revolutionary forces, Jan. 25 has been recast by the military-backed interim regime as a day to hail the police and military—angering many Islamist and secular activists who launched the revolt three years ago.
It has also been designated as a day for supporters of General Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the wildly popular defense minister and architect of the coup, to demand he run for president in elections later this year.
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