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Bomb in Egypt capital kills six policemen

By AFP
December 09, 2016

CAIRO:  A bombing killed six policemen at a checkpoint in Cairo on Friday, the latest in a string of attacks in Egypt´s capital targeting security forces and officials, the interior ministry said.

The attack struck in the western Talibiya neighbourhood of the capital, shortly before the weekly Muslim prayers and when Cairo´s streets are mostly empty.

The bloodied bodies of several policemen could be seen at the blast site next to police vehicles that had been stationed there, an AFP photographer reported.

The Hassam Movement, a militant group which has claimed a string of recent attacks, said it was behind the bombing, in a statement circulated on social media.

Police cordoned off the area with yellow tape as they searched for more explosives.

The interior ministry said in a statement that the bomb exploded next to a checkpoint, killing two officers, a policeman and three conscripts.

Three other conscripts were wounded.

Militants have repeatedly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and unleashed a bloody crackdown on his followers.

Most of the attacks are carried out in the Sinai Peninsula of eastern Egypt by a branch of the Islamic State jihadist group, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

But militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in the capital.

Most of the Cairo attacks in recent months have been claimed by two little known militant groups, Lawaa al-Thawra as well as the Hassam Movement.

An Egyptian judge in one of the trials of Morsi, who was detained after his ouster, escaped unharmed last month when a car bomb exploded as he drove by.

That attack came days after a roadside bombing targeting a police convoy killed a passerby.