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CAIRO, Egypt – The alleged suicide bomber who drove his explosives-laden car into oncoming traffic in Cairo on Sunday night has been identified.

The bombing resulted in the death of twenty people, and the wounding of nearly 50 more.

Investigators on Thursday named the driver of the car as 24-year old Abdel Rahman Abdel Rahman of Fayoum province, which south-west of Cairo.

The said the man, who was identified through DNA testing was wanted by military prosecutors in relation to a ‘terrorist case’ involving Hasm.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry on Thursday said security forces had engaged and killed seventeen of Rahman’s associates in 3 separate shoot-outs in Cairo and Fayoum province. The ministry said fifteen militants were confronted and killed in a deserted building in the Fayoum desert, while the other 2 were gunned down in an eastern suburb of Cairo.

The ministry said the driver of the car and his associates were members of Hasm, which it described as being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hasm, which according to Wikipedia, was founded in 2016, has claimed responsibility for previous attacks, but so far has not claimed responsibility for Sunday night’s suicide bombing.

“All of Hasm’s attacks have been directed at targets symbolic of the regime or security forces, with the group conducting extensive preoperational surveillance which the group often publicizes in its claims of responsibility,” according to the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

There is no evidence of any links by the group to the Muslim Brotherhood, other than Thursday’s claim by the ministry.

Government officials initially described Sunday night’s event as a road traffic incident, saying a car collided with 3 other cars. The extent of the blast and the resultant damage however resulted in extensive social media coverage which resulted in a change of narrative.

By Monday officials were saying the car was laden with explosives but they were detonated accidently. The car, the officials confirmed, was reported stolen some months ago from a Nile Delta province.

(Photo credit: EPA).