16 Dead In Cairo Restaurant Firebombing

Sixteen people died today when bombs struck a Cairo
restaurant in what Egypt’s Interior Ministry said was an attack apparently
motivated by a labor disagreement and not terrorism.

The restaurant in the Agouza area, near Cairo’s city center,
also housed a bar and nightclub in a building’s basement. Three masked men
reportedly threw Molotov cocktails, or burning gasoline bottles, into the
restaurant before fleeing.

“Initial information indicated that disagreements
between workers at the night club and others caused … [the suspects] to throw
Molotov cocktail at the … door,” the Facebook page of the Interior
Ministry read.

The ministry added the dead included 11 men and five women,
and that at least three others were injured. Thick smoke was observed billowing
from the narrow front door of the restaurant.

The incident was first believed to an example of terrorism,
since Cairo has experienced numerous attacks on civilians and security
installations by Islamist insurgents since the fall of the President Mohammad
Morsi regime in Egypt in 2013. An initial police investigation suggested the
bombing was the result of an altercation between restaurant staff and visitors
who were denied entry.