16 killed in Molotov cocktails attack on Egypt nightclub

Cairo: At least 16 people were killed and several others injured today when three motorcycle-borne masked assailants threw Molotov cocktails at a nightclub in the Egyptian capital and fled.

Three masked men on motorcycles threw the firebombs into the club in the Agouza district early this morning and fled, a security official was quoted as saying by state-run MENA news agency.

Several people were injured in the attack, the official said. The injured were transferred to a hospital. The unidentified attackers torched the club by throwing Molotov bottles on it. The club, located about 5km from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, also houses a restaurant.

A security source said that primary investigation showed that the three assailants attacked the main entrance of the nightclub with about 15 Molotov bottles and birdshots. The attackers used motorcycles to escape after the incident. The source said police has intensified the search for the attackers.

Cairo has previously been rocked by a series of attacks on security forces and civilians carried out by suspected Islamist militants.

An Islamist insurgency intensified in the wake of the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.