Work resumed at the headquarters of the Daqahleya Security Directorate in Mansoura on Saturday, after more than two years of massive reconstructive measures. The directorate had been hit by an immense blast at the end of 2013.
Following the blast, employees of the directorate were transferred to a fertilizer factory in Talkha village near Mansoura, until the reconstruction was completed, according to state-run newspaper Al-Ahram.
Reconstruction works were executed by Arab Contractors and cost approximately EGP 50m.
The Arab Contractors, considered one of the largest construction companies in Egypt, had formed five worker groups in 2013 to lift the debris on the same day of the blast, and put a scaffold on the building façade to restore it, according to an official statement issued then.
The blast at Daqahleya Security Directorate had killed 15 and injured 134 people, in what had appeared to be the most violent attack on a governmental building.
The explosion ripped through the building’s side façade and damaged a number of police vehicles, as well as parts of adjacent buildings, including the city’s council building, a state-owned theatre, and a bank.
The head of Mansoura’s Security Directorate was among the injured. Sinai Province—previously known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis—claimed responsibility for the attack a day later, and released a video showing one of its members, called Abu Mariam, who carried out the blast. In the video, he explained that the blast targeted the Daqahleya Security Directorate due to its involvement in torturing and killing Muslims, in addition to imprisoning women.
On Saturday, the Cairo Criminal Court decided to adjourn the trial of 213 defendants from the militant group to 6 August, in order to hear testimonies from witnesses, according to state-run newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm.
The prosecution addressed defendants with charges of establishing and leading a terrorist group that aims to disrupt the state apparatuses from executing their duties, harming national unity, and participating in blasting state-owned institutions, including Daqahleya Security Directorate, and targeting police officers and checkpoints in Mansoura.
