More on Egyptian Bombing

There's still not much clear about the people behind the Egyptian bombing. The first three people arrested have now been released; apparently two of them were women wearing hijab, which makes one wonder if that was the reason they were hauled in. Certainly men in beards have been rounded up in the past with little more evidence of wrongdoing than that they dress like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now 11 -- or is it 14? -- others are in custody but it isn't clear whether they're suspects or material witnesses. Al-'Arabiyya has reported that among thse being questioned are an Iranian and three Pakistanis; this follows a Member of Parliament's suggestion that Iran was behind the bombing.

I doubt that very much. Iran knows more about bombmaking than whoever put together the makeshift device that detonated at al-Hussein, and no Shi'ite is likely to plant a bomb outside the shrine of the Prophet's grandson Hussein, who is the fourth imam to the Shi'a. (The original foundation of the Hussein mosque was in Fatimid times, when Egypt itself was under Isma'ili Sh'i rule.) Iran and Egypt have had a very public feud going on for some time, and trading insults was common, but I'd wager this bombing will prove to be home-grown.