Three separate bomb attacks took place in Greater Cairo on Friday morning, killing at least five people and injuring dozens of others, on the eve of the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
The violence began when a large blast ripped through a police building in central Cairo, killing four and injuring 76 others, according to the health ministry.
Hours later in Giza, one person was killed when a primitive bomb exploded after being thrown at a moving police vehicle near a metro station, deputy Giza security chief Mahmoud Farouk told state TV. At least 11 others were reportedly wounded in the attack.
In a third explosion, a small bomb went off later on Friday morning at a police station in Talbiya district, also in Giza, near the pyramids. The attack did not cause any casualties, the interior ministry said.
"It's a vile, desperate attempt by evil terrorist forces to disrupt the success Egypt and its people have achieved in the [transitional] roadmap and the passing of the new constitution," Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi commented, in reference to the Cairo bomb.
The first explosion, which took place at the Cairo Security Directorate in Bab El-Khalk district, blew out the windows of the building and stripped off parts of its façade.
According to a statement by the interior ministry, a car exploded at the cement barriers surrounding the main Egyptian police headquarters in central Cairo. The attack took place at around 6:30am local time and was heard across several parts of the capital.
TV footage showed wrecked floors of the multi-storey building and a damaged facade of the nearby Museum of Islamic Art. The minister of state for antiquities told journalists in a statement after touring the site that some artefacts and items inside the museum had also been damaged. He said the 19th-century museum building, which was recently rennovated in a million-dollar project, will need to be "rebuilt."
An Ahram Online reporter at the scene an hour after the blast said she saw a badly mangled vehicle stained with blood parked in front of the police compound. Some of the building's walls have collapsed and a gaping crater was left in the ground.
The attack has also caused water pipes in the area to explode, and vacuum excavators were sent to remove the water pooling in the street, the reporter added.
The violence came only one day ahead of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, raising the spectre of further violence. Police have been set to deploy around the country to secure key security sites.
A spate of recent explosions in densely populated areas has raised fears that militant activity in the border Sinai Peninsula, which has spiked since Morsi's removal, would take its toll on other parts of the country.
"They don't want the people to celebrate," Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters while inspecting the explosion site in Cairo, adding that he was certain that "millions would take to the streets" on Saturday to celebrate the revolution nonetheless. He added that the "despicable attack" would not hamper police "in their fierce war against black terrorism."
After the explosion, large crowds of onlookers gathered at the Cairo site, chanting slogans demanding the "execution" of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
The group's official English language Twitter account has denied responsibility for the Friday attacks, saying that it "strongly condemn(s) cowardly bombings in Cairo, express(es) condolences to families of those killed, demand(s) swift investigations."
The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation by the cabinet in December, although it has persistently denied any links with ongoing terrorist attacks.
In December, a bomb attack at a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 16 people, mostly policemen.
A bomb also exploded outside a Cairo court just before polls were to set to open in last week's constitutional referendum, leaving no casualties.
An Al-Qaeda-inspired group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks in which scores of policemen and soldiers were killed. The group says the violence is in revenge for the killings and arrests of Islamists as part of a broad security crackdown. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.
The group also claimed a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September.
Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92374.aspx
Cairo hit by three bomb blasts on Friday, killing 5
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Re: Cairo hit by three bomb blasts on Friday, killing 5
So that's put the tin hat on your tourism again for at least another 12 months and it was only yesterday that I was listening to a radio program about holidays and the travel rep was saying how holidays to Turkey, Egypt and some other destinations were on the up, so that's blown that one out of the water then.
As a quick edit, the UK TV news is full of reports of these several bomb blasts, so I guess by the evening news it will feature very highly once they get their people on the ground reporting back.
As a quick edit, the UK TV news is full of reports of these several bomb blasts, so I guess by the evening news it will feature very highly once they get their people on the ground reporting back.
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Re: Cairo hit by three bomb blasts on Friday, killing 5
I get that people can all have different political beliefs and I get it that groups have different philosophical ideas as to what works best for the majority but I honestly don't follow these terrorist groups. Kinda wonder if they really honestly do want to tear down absolutely everything and live like they lived 500 yrs ago being ordered about by fanatics who operate on whims and brute force.
Unfortunately inevitably these terrorists will go further south to Luxor where they could really cause damage to ancient sites that could never be restored if damaged.
Unfortunately inevitably these terrorists will go further south to Luxor where they could really cause damage to ancient sites that could never be restored if damaged.
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