At least 16 people were killed and three others were injured after a Molotov cocktail, a crude explosive device also known as a petrol bomb, was hurled at a nightclub in Cairo early Friday morning, AP reported. An official at the venue said the attacker might have been a former employee who had been fired from the club in the Agouza area of the Egyptian capital. However, local news agencies quoted another official as saying that three men on a bike threw the bombs into the club.

Most of the victims died from burns or smoke inhalation as the nightclub and an attached restaurant were in the basement, with no possible escape route, the Telegraph reported. The Ministry of Interior Affairs, in a Facebook post, claimed that the primary investigations suggested that the attack took place after a dispute between the nightclub staff and some unidentified people.