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5 police injured in blast outside Egypt university

20 November 2014 21:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least five policemen were injured on Thursday as a blast targeted the security men outside Helwan University to the south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, the Interior Ministry said in a statement, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Unknown persons driving a fast vehicle threw a homemade explosive device at the security men outside Helwan University that injured four police officers and a policeman," the statement said, noting the injuries were intermediate and that they were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Also on Thursday, "a sound bomb" went off at a train carriage at Cairo's main railway station "after the passengers left the train and the police evacuated the nearby platform," the police reported, reassuring no injuries.

On the other hand, unknown assailants set three public buses on fire at a garage in Sharqiya province, around 65 km north of Cairo, the Egyptian state TV reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the police managed to defuse two structural bombs hidden in wooden boxes under a bridge in Minufya province, about 65 km north of Cairo.

Terrorist activities have escalated in Egypt since the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July, 2013 following mass protests against his one- year rule and the massive crackdown on Morsi's supporters that left nearly 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

Anti-government attacks have since extended from the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo and other provinces across the country, with Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) group claiming responsibility for most of them.

In late October, a blast targeted a big military checkpoint in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid city, leaving more than 30 soldiers killed and tens of others injured. In response, Egypt announced a three-month curfew and a state of emergency in some parts of North Sinai.

The ABM has recently announced its allegiance to the regional Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and changed its name to "Sinai State" as one of the so-called states under IS leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi.

President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who carried out Morsi's ouster as then-military chief, said Thursday that resorting to violence is always the ideology of "political Islamists." He also denied in an interview with France 24 broadcasted on the Egyptian state TV that tens of thousands have been imprisoned since Morsi's removal.

The Egyptian new leadership and a number of its Gulf supporters have blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which Morsi hailed, as "a terrorist organization."

On Thursday, the Egyptian police arrested Morsi's local development minister Mohamed Ali Bishr over charges of belonging to a terrorist group, inciting anti-government violence and urging participation in the intended Islamist protests scheduled for November 28.

Besides Bishr, who also served as Minufiya governor under Morsi, used to mediate reconciliation talks between the authorities and the Brotherhood after Morsi's removal.

Morsi himself and the Brotherhood's top chief Mohamed Badie are currently in custody among other group leading members over similar charges in addition to espionage accusations.