News / Egypt

Bomb attack hits area near court in Egypt’s Dairut

Friday, 22 May 2015 2:21 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 22 May 2015 2:40 PM ]

Egyptian policemen stand guard at the site of an explosion outside the Supreme Court in downtown Cairo, March 2, 2015. (© AFP)

A bomb explosion has hit an area near a court building in the city of Dairut in Egypt’s Asyut Province.

A report on the Arabic website of al-Yaum al-Sabe’, an Egyptian daily, said no one was killed or injured in the blast in Dairut, which is located about 335 kilometers (208 miles) south of the capital, Cairo.

An Egyptian deputy interior minister, identified as General Abdol-Basit Donqol, has confirmed the blast, which came a day after ISIL terrorists called on their followers in Egypt to attack judges and court officials for their purported role in an ongoing crackdown on militants.

The Takfiri group released an audio message on Thursday, urging attacks on judges in retaliation for the May 17 execution of six militants, who were hanged on charges of wreaking havoc in the country.

“Poison their food, wait for them outside their homes and on the road, destroy their vehicles, learn to blow them up,” the recording said, adding, “We will seek vengeance for our brothers and others like them, from the party that sentenced them, and the party that implemented the sentence.”

The Friday explosion comes just days after two judges, a prosecutor and their driver were gunned down in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where there is armed militancy against the Egyptian government.

The Egyptian military considers the Sinai Peninsula a safe haven for gunmen, who use the region as a base for their “acts of terror.”

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, in July 2013, gunmen have launched terrorist attacks in Sinai.

Militants from Velayat Sinai, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the region. The group pledged allegiance to the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group last November.

A state of emergency has been declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint killed more than 30 soldiers in October 2014.

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