The man was intercepted outside the concrete blast barriers that encircle the embassy The US Embassy said in a tweet that it was “aware of a reported incident” near the embassy CAIRO: Egyptian police on Tuesday arrested a man after an explosive device detonated near the US embassy in Cairo. Dramatic video footage showed the man walking near the embassy when the black backpack he is wearing appears to explode. Another video shows him being held by a group of people and giving his name as Abdallah Ayman Mahmood and that he is aged 24. Other reports said he threw threw a crude device towards the concrete security barriers of the embassy. The man was also shown stripped to his underwear and blindfolded as security officers interrogated him. With an air of confidence, the man says: “ Listen to me and I will tell you what happened.” The US Embassy said it was “aware of a reported incident” near the embassy and advised American citizens to avoid the area. Security officials said they had arrested the man but did not identify him. The concrete blast barriers where the incident happened encircle the US and nearby British embassies in the leafy district of Garden City. The area around the embassy has for decades been heavily policed, with concrete barriers blocking traffic. Egypt has struggled to stem a campaign of bombings and and an insurgency in the Sinai peninsula after the Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi was removed from power in 2013. Bomb and shooting attacks have targeted members of the security forces in the capital and militants in Sinai declared their allegiance to Daesh.