Friday, January 24, 2014

Cairo Hit By Three Bomb Blasts: Security Directorate, Islamic Museum Damaged While Five Soldiers, Others Are Killed

Cairo hit by three bomb blasts on Friday, killing 5

Ahram Online , Friday 24 Jan 2014

Large blast at central Cairo police headquarters on Friday morning is followed by smaller explosions in Dokki and Talbiya

Five people have been killed in three separate bomb attacks in Greater Cairo on Friday morning.

At least one person was killed when a primitive bomb exploded after being thrown at a police vehicle near a metro station in Giza, deputy Giza security chief Mahmoud Farouk told state TV.TV footage showed a police cordon around El-Behous metro station in Giza's Dokki district.

At least 11 others were reportedly wounded in the attack.

In Talbiya, an improvised bomb exploded near a police station Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The explosion, which hit a police station near the Giza pyramids, caused no fatalities, an interior ministry official told state TV.

Earlier on Friday, a large blast ripped through a security building in central Cairo early on Friday, killing four and injuring 76 others, according to the health ministry.

The explosionat the Cairo Security Directorate in Bab El-Khalk district blew out the windows of the building and stripped off parts of its façade, state TV reported.

Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif told state TV that a car bomb might have been used in the Cairo attack, which took place at around 6:30am local time and was heard across several parts of the capital.

TV footage showed wrecked floors of the multi-storey building and a damaged facade of the nearby Museum of Islamic Arts. The minister of state for antiquities told journalists in a statement after touring the site that "some artefacts" inside the museum had also been damaged.

Police have cordoned off the area and ambulances rushed to the scene to transport the wounded

Eyewitnesses told state TV that gunmen opened fire after the explosion.

Large crowds of onlookers chanted slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, including: "the people want the execution of the Brotherhood. Execution for Morsi."The Brotherhood was designated a terrorist organisation by the cabinet in December.

An Ahram Online reporter at the scene an hours after the blast said she saw a badly mangled vehicle stained with blood parked in front of the police compound. Some of the building's walls have collapsed.

The attack has also caused water pipes inthe area to explode, and vacuumexcavators were sent to remove the water pooling in the street, the reporter added.

A third bomb also exploded later on Friday morning at a police station in Talbiya district in Giza. The interior ministry said the bomb was small and had caused no casualties.

"It's a vile, desperate attempt by evil terrorist forces to disrupt the success Egypt and its people have achieved in the [transitional] roadmap and the passing of the new constitution," Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi commented, in reference to the Cairo bomb.

A spate of recent explosions in densely populated areas has raised fears that militant activity in the border Sinai Peninsula, which has spiked since Morsi's removal, would take its toll on other parts of the country.

But the Brotherhood has repeatedly denied any links to the attacks.

In one of the deadliest attacks, a December bombing of a security headquarters the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 16 people, mostly policemen.

A bomb also exploded outside a Cairo court just before polls were to set to open in last week's constitutional referendum, leaving no casualties.

An Al-Qaeda-inspired group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks in which scores of policemen and soldiers were killed. The group says the violence is in revenge for the killings and arrests of Islamists as part of a broad security crackdown. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

The group also claimed a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92374.aspx


Islamic museum in Cairo seriously damaged after bomb blast

Nevine El-Aref, Friday 24 Jan 2014

Facade of the museum is destroyed, and some interior ceilings have collapsed

The façade of the Museum of Islamic Arts in central Cairo has been completely destroyed by a powerful car bomb that exploded outside the adjacent Cairo Security Directorate early on Friday morning.

Four people were killed and at least 76 injured in the bomb last, according to health ministry figures.

The blast of the bomb also destroyed the façade of the nearby Egyptian National Library and Archives building.

Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim told Ahram Online during his inspection tour of the museum that the blast had destroyed the façade of the building, which had featured rich patterns and elaborate decoration in the Islamic style. The huge decorated columns at the front of the building have also been destroyed.

“The museum building is in a real mess,” said Ibrahim, describing the interior of the museum as “topsy-turvy.” According to Ibrahim, a number of ceilings inside the building collapsed, and some artefacts were damaged.

“Until now I cannot move freely inside the museum to continue my inspection tour due to safety reasons, as the ceilings are still on the verge of collapsing,” he said.

Ministry employees are working hard to secure the museum’s contents and to ensure that any damaged artefacts are removed for restoration.

“Once we evacuate the whole museum, the building is to be subjected to restoration,” said Ibrahim

He described the incident as a “great loss” for Egypt and the world.

The Museum of Islamic Arts is home to an exceptional collection of rare woodwork and plaster artefacts, as well as metal, ceramic, glass, crystal, and textiles objects of all Islamic periods from all over the world.

The museum is a two-storey building; the lower floor contains the exhibition halls displaying 2,500 artefacts in 25 galleries. The second floor and the basement are used for storage.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92398.aspx


Interior ministry suspends officer after 5 soldiers killed in Upper Egypt

Ahram Online, Thursday 23 Jan 2014

An officer reported absent during an attack on his check point in Beni Suef which left 5 soldiers dead and 2 wounded is suspended by Egypt interior ministry

Egypt's interior ministry has suspended a police officer for abandoning his 14-member check point in Beni Suef, targeted early Thursday by unknown assailants, pending investigation, Al-Ahram’s Arabic website reported.

Five Egyptian policemen were killed in a drive-by shooting on a checkpoint in Beni Suef Governorate around 200km south of Cairo on Thursday morning, Al-Ahram said.
Two policemen were also wounded in the attack that took place in Al-Wasta district, one of whom reported to be in a critical condition.

"Masked gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire heavily on the forces at the checkpoint," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Bombing and shooting attacks against security and army targets have become commonplace following the army's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July amid mass protests.

Security forces were stationed Thursday afternoon at key locations in the governorate, attempting to locate the attackers.

The governor of Beni Suef has announced compensation of LE5,000 for the families of the dead and LE2,000 for those injured.

The attack came two days before Egypt is set to mark the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution, raising fears of further violence.

A spate of violence in densely populated areas has raised fears that militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula, which has spiked since Morsi's removal, is spreading to other parts of the country.

In one of the deadliest attacks, a December bombing of a security headquarters the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 16 people, mostly policemen.

A bomb also exploded outside a Cairo court just before polls were to set to open in last week's constitutional referendum, leaving no casualties.

An Al-Qaeda-inspired group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks in which scores of policemen and soldiers were killed. The group says the violence is in revenge for the killings and arrests of Islamists as part of a broad security crackdown.

The group also claimed a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September.

Authorities have accused Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, designated a terrorist organisation, of links to the attacks – charges the movement has repeatedly denied.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92289.aspx

No comments: