Car bomb targets Italian consulate in Cairo

A large explosion has been gone off near the Italian Consulate in the Egyptian capital, partially destroying the facade of the building in central Cairo.

State news agency MENA said the blast on Saturday morning was a car bomb attack.

Medical sources said one person has been killed and four others injured. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Social media users posted photos they said were from Cairo showing heavy smoke in the city's skyline. No group has yet said it carried out the attack.

The embassy was closed and no civilian staff members are among the injured, an embassy official told AP.

انفجار ضخم يدمر أجزاء من مبنى القنصلية الإيطالية بشارع الجلاء pic.twitter.com/cd3YCfQGUV

— Omar Elhady (@O_Elhady) July 11, 2015

Egypt's public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was killed last month by a car bomb attack in the city.

In the same month, another car bomb targeting a police station left three people dead.

Egyptian security forces have been battling Islamic militants, but the fighting has been mostly confined to the Sinai Peninsula.

Militants in Egypt have killed at least 600 police and armed forces personnel in the past two years.

The militants stepped up their attacks after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

In recent weeks, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has promised to crack down further on Islamist militants.

Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members, including ousted President Mohammed Morsi, have been sentenced to death by Egypt's courts.

The majority remain on death row awaiting execution.