Bomb kills two policemen near Egypt foreign ministry

A bomb blast near the foreign ministry in central Cairo killed two Egyptian policemen on Sunday, a security official said. The blast occurred in a crowded area on the Nile River that houses the foreign ministry and state television headquarters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack which killed two police lieutenant colonels. But the operation resembled ones carried out by Islamist insurgents seeking to topple the U.S.-backed government. Egypt has faced rising Islamist militant violence since the army deposed President Mohamed Morsi last year and cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood movement.

To anyone who doesn’t use violence, Egypt is very forgiving. The chance for participation is there.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, during an interview yesterday with the Associated Press

Islamic State established ties with Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and has been coaching Egypt’s most lethal militant organisation, security officials and a commander in the group told Reuters. Smoke was rising and people ran after Sunday’s blast along a sidewalk in the neighbourhood of Boulaq bu Eila, just behind the Foreign Ministry, which is located in a high rise building beside the Nile. The blast caused a tree to fall on a car. Blood stained a busy intersection beside a crowded market. While the death toll was low, any attack in the capital is bound to cast doubt over the security forces, who have vowed to end Islamist militant bloodshed that has hammered the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy.

Egypt Africa