Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has been branded a terror group by the country's prime minister after a car bomb killed at least 14 people, ripping through a police headquarters.
The car bombing in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 70 miles north of Cairo, is said to have killed mostly police officers, and wounded more than 100 people.
Egyptians gather after a powerful explosion believed to be caused by a car bomb rocked a police headquarters
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, which came a day after an al-Qaida-inspired group called on police and army personnel to desert or face death at the hands of its fighters, AP reported.
"Prime Minister Beblawi has declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation," prime minister's spokesman Sherif Showky told the Egyptian state news agency MENA.
The group, to whom which ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi belongs, has already had its activities banned by a court order, accused of funding the training of a militia in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing
In the new year, Egyptians will vote on a new constitution, the first time the populous will have a democratic opportunity since the military, backed by anti-Morsi protests, toppled the president in July.
The constitution, if approved, will be followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in the months following. The previous version was suspended after Morsi was deposed.