Security forces believe Gamal Hussein Ahmed threw a primitive explosive device and a suitcase filled with petrol canisters at the synagogue in downtown Cairo on Sunday. The device burst into flames but caused no injuries. Ahmed, a drug addict who had previously been in rehabilitation, was on his way to the American Embassy to seek political asylum when police arrested him at 1 a.m. (2300 GMT on Monday), the ministry said.

Sources cited in the ministry statement said Ahmed confessed he threw the device at the synagogue out of anger over perceived Israeli injustices committed against Palestinians in the occupied territories.

A bomb in a busy Cairo tourist area in February last year killed a French tourist. That was the first fatal attack against tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people at tourist sites in the Sinai peninsula in 2006.

Egypt was once home to tens of thousands of Jews, but most left decades ago and only a few dozen live in the Arab state.