[2][3][4] No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing but Prime Minister Hazem Al Beblawi, on behalf of the interim government, was quick to blame the Muslim Brotherhood of being behind the attack, labeling it a "terrorist organization" for the first time since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July earlier this year.
[8] Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-linked group in the Sinai Peninsula, released an online statement claiming responsibility for the blast but the government sounded determined that the Muslim Brotherhood was behind it and intensified its crackdown on the organization.
[9][10] The incident is now widely believed by many to be a turning point in the nation's history as the future of both the Islamists and Egypt's stability remain shadowed and unclear with several violent clashes and other bombings taking place across the country following its ban.
[13][14][15] The interior ministry and the military also ruled in the possibility of suicide bombing to be the cause of the attack with initial findings showing body parts inside an exploded vehicle near the site.
Forensic investigators concluded on Wednesday their autopsy of the bodies of the victims with their injuries, mostly affecting the abdomen, chest and head, were caused by metal fragments from the explosion that were later extracted from the corpses.
[2][13] Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, which is currently engaged in an armed confrontation with the government in the lawless regions of the Sinai, has released an online statement claiming responsibility for the bombing and identified the name of the perpetrator as Abu Mariam.
"[23] Another comment by the group on an Islamist forum read: "Your brothers in Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis, with the grace of God, were able to target the Dakahlia police headquarters"[24]They have also called several times on the country's security forces before the incident to abandon their positions or "face death" at the hands of its fighters and were responsible for several previous terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.