Egypt: Series of blasts in Cairo kill 1, wound at least 7

A series of blasts in Cairo on Thursday killed one person and wounded at least seven, Egyptian security officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks using homemade explosives that authorities blame on Islamist militants.
     
The officials said four bombs exploded in the residential districts of Imbabah and Mohandiseen in the Egyptian capital, which is home to some 18 million people. Later, a blast outside a police station in the nearby Warraq district wounded four people, including a police conscript.
     
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
     
Egypt has for years been battling a burgeoning insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, but the frequency of attacks against army and police there has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
     
Small bombings have also been carried out in Cairo and other cities, targeting public transport, shopping malls and government buildings. They have caused few casualties, but have heightened tensions four years after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
     
Militants have vowed to step up their campaign of violence in the run-up to a key economic conference scheduled for next month in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military ouster of Morsi, is hoping to attract foreign investment to revive the ailing economy.

 

 

AP