An explosive device was hurled at a Cairo shul on Sunday, Baruch Hashem not resulting in injuries or worse. There are no reports of damage to the shul.

According to local police, a man entered the Panorama Hotel across from Cairo’s main synagogue, the Shaare Shamayim Shul, asking for a room. At some point he took the suitcase he was holding and tossed it at the shul, resulting in a blast and a fire which was quickly brought under the control.

Authorities report the suitcase contained a homemade bomb and gasoline canisters. The man fled into an alley.

The shul is used on yomim tovim and special events, and the shul is attended by Israeli diplomatic personnel in Cairo.

In April 2002, 19 German tourists were killed in another attack against a shul, in Jaba, when the terrorists targeted the shul with a tanker truck but B’chasdei Hashem, the shul remained intact and a catastrophe was averted, although lives were still lost. Israeli officials reported an al-Qaeda cell was responsible.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)