News / Egypt

Bomb blast near Egypt Supreme Court kills 2 people, injures 9

Monday, 02 March 2015 1:10 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 02 March 2015 6:48 PM ]

An Egyptian masked policeman stands guard outside the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo, Egypt, on March 1, 2015. (© AP)

At least two people have been killed and nine others injured when a bomb blast struck near the building of the Supreme Court in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, said eleven individuals, including six police officers and five civilians, were injured as a result of the explosion in Cairo’s crowded downtown district, which houses the General Prosecutor's office as well as some of Egypt’s high-profile state building, on Monday.

He added that two people later succumbed to their grave injuries hours after the blast.

Security personnel have reached the site and cordoned off the court building, and are busy clearing the area of any possible explosives.

Meanwhile, the head of the Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation, Ali Fadali, said Cairo’s Gamal Abdel Nasser metro station was not the target of the blast, and it continued normal operations.

The attack came a day after two civilians lost their lives in a bomb attack outside a police station in southern Egypt.

This is the second bomb attack near the Supreme Court, following another explosion, which wounded 12 people last October.

Egypt has experienced a series of shooting attacks and bombings since the North African country’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the army in July 2013.

The violence has hit various parts of the country, especially the volatile Sinai Peninsula, where the army has been battling militant groups, including Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

In recent months, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis members have staged deadly attacks on Egypt’s police forces and claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on military facilities in the capital, Cairo, as well as the Sinai Peninsula.

On January 31, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi vowed to defeat the militants fighting against government forces in the Sinai Peninsula, saying that his government is ready to brace for a long fight to defeat the extremists.

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