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20 April 2024

New militant group claims responsibility for Friday blast in Cairo

An Egyptian policeman stands at the site of an explosion targeting a traffic police kiosk in Cairo early on April 19, 2014 which killed one police officer. A policeman and a civilian were also wounded when assailants threw the bomb from a nearby bridge onto the kiosk, located on a main square of the Egyptian capital, the officials said. (AFP)

Published
By Reuters

The Egyptian militant group, Ajnad Misr, claimed responsibility on Saturday for a blast that killed one police officer in Cairo.

The bomb exploded in Cairo's Lebanon Square on Friday night, killing the officer and wounding another.

Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, said in a statement on an Islamist website that its militants had monitored a police checkpoint in the square before detonating the bomb.

The group formally announced itself in January saying it would target "criminal elements" in the military-backed government.

It has claimed at least six attacks since then, including explosions outside Cairo University which killed a police brigadier-general and one other person earlier this month.

In a separate attack, early on Sunday, a police officer was killed on the Suez-Cairo road after being fired at by unknown assailants, the state news agency reported.

Militants have stepped up attacks on members of the security forces, killing hundreds, since the army toppled Egypt's first freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July.

The insurgency threatens national security ahead of a presidential election in May, as well as the vital tourist industry.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri gave his blessing, in a recording released on an Islamist website on Friday night, to Jihadists in carrying out attacks against the army and security forces in Egypt. Al Qaeda is not believed to be linked to Ajnad Misr.