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Egypt's official news agency and a security official say at least 11 people were killed and scores more injured after a strong explosion hit a police headquarters building in a Nile Delta city north of Cairo.

The Middle East News Agency said the explosion took place at 1.10am local time on Tuesday, at Dakahlia security headquarters in the Nile Delta province of Mansour, causing the collapse of parts of the five-floor building.

A security official said that 11 people were killed and 80 injured including the city's security chief. Most of those killed were policemen inside the security headquarters whose bodies were buried under the debris. The death toll was expected to rise, he said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said an initial investigation suggested a car bomb had caused the explosion.

Egypt's Nile News TV cut into its late-night programming to urge people to go to hospitals to donate blood to the victims of the attack, which it described as the worst in the city's history.

The attack comes a day after an al-Qaida inspired group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or the Champions of Jerusalem, called on members of the police and army to desert or face death. Attacks on soldiers and policemen have sharply risen since the Egyptian army ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July in the face of mass unrest against his rule.

Most of the attacks have occurred in the Sinai. About 200 soldiers have died in Sinai alone since Morsi was forced out.

The group said it considered Egyptian troops to be infidels because they answered to the secular-leaning military-backed government. It gained notoriety after expanding its operations outside of the northern Sinai province. It claimed responsibility for a September suicide bombing that targeted Egypt's interior minister, who escaped unharmed.