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Cairo bomb explosion kills police officer | Cairo bomb explosion kills police officer |
(about 1 hour later) | |
An explosion in a busy square in central Cairo late on Friday, killed one police officer, Egyptian officials said. | |
The bomb detonated next to a traffic post in Lebanon Square in Cairo's Mohandessin district, killing Major Mohammed Gamal Eddin. | |
A security official said the bomb was planted inside the traffic post and it exploded around 10pm Cairo time. A second official, however, said unidentified assailants hurled the bomb from a bridge over the post before fleeing. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two accounts. | |
Three other people were injured including a senior police officer, the two officials said. | |
Security forces sealed off the area while searching for more bombs. | |
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. | No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. |
Egypt has been hit with violence since the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year. | |
Since then, the country's military-backed interim government has stepped up its crackdown on Morsi's group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and followers who hold near-daily street demonstrations denouncing his ouster and the subsequent killings of hundreds of supporters. The protests frequently descend into violence, and ongoing street battles with security forces fuel unrest. | |
An al-Qaida-inspired group, Champions of Jerusalem, has claimed responsibility for most of the deadly attacks, including car bombs and the assassination attempt of Egypt's interior minister last year. | |
The government has blamed the violence on Morsi's group and branded it a terrorist organisation. The group denies it and says it is abiding by peaceful means, including protests. | |
New groups have emerged over the past few months seeking revenge from security forces for killings of pro-Morsi protesters, including one called Ajnad Misr, Arabic for Egypt's Soldiers. The group claimed responsibility for several small bombings, including three blasts earlier this month outside a university campus in central Cairo that killed one senior police officer and injured five others. | |
More than 430 police officers and army personnel have been killed in terrorist attacks since mass demonstrations against Morsi on 30 June, according to government figures. |
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