Police officer killed in Cairo blast

Cairo, June 30 (IANS) An Egyptian police officer was killed and three security personnel injured in a blast near the presidential palace in eastern Cairo Monday, media reported.

Colonel Ahmed al-Ashmawi, a bomb disposal expert at Cairo security directorate, was killed while defusing one of two bombs planted near the Ittihadiya palace in Heliopolis district, Xinhua reported citing the online edition of the state-run Ahram newspaper.

A security source was quoted by state-run Nile TV as saying that two bombs were discovered near a dust pin, while the bomb disposal team was combing the vicinity of the presidential palace.

Later, another security man was wounded in defusing a third primitive explosive device outside the palace, TV added.

A little known jihadi group, Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), formed in January has also claimed a string of attacks on police in Cairo.

The group announced it had planted a series of bombs near the presidential palace to target the security forces.

The blast came two days after another blast hit an unfinished telecommunications building of state-owned Telecom Egypt, the country's fixed-line monopoly operator, in 6th of October City outside Cairo, killing a girl and her mother. The father of the dead girl is a guard in the building.

On Wednesday, at least six people were injured in small explosions near metro stations on the capital's outskirts and outside a court complex also near the presidential palace.

Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a wave of militant attacks and explosions targeting security personnel and public institutions have taken place mainly in the restive Sinai peninsula. But recently, the attacks have crept into the capital and Nile delta cities.

The Al Qaeda-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, saying they were taking revenge for police crackdown on Morsi's supporters which left more than 1,000 people dead.

Monday's blast came while the country marks the anniversary of toppling Morsi and his Brotherhood group following mass protests over his turbulent one-year rule. It was not immediately clear if President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, was at the palace at the time of the explosion.

Security forces sealed off routes leading to the iconic Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 2011 popular uprising that toppled long time ruler Hosni Mubarak. The square was closed and declared off-limits for traffic in readiness for the celebrations.