Cairo: A wanted terrorist and two policemen were killed late Monday in a bomb blast during a security raid in Islamic Cairo, the Interior Ministry said.
While security forces besieged the wanted man in the old district of Al Darb Al Ahmar, an explosive device that was in his possession went off, killing him and the two policemen, the ministry added in a statement.
Three police officers were injured in the blast.
The terrorist wanted for having thrown a bomb last Friday at a security checkpoint in the city of Giza near Cairo, according to the ministry.
Images, retrieved from a surveillance camera, purportedly showed him riding a bicycle and wearing a facemask with a bag on his back before police men tried to stop him, and he blew himself up.
The women appearing in the video, miraculously survived the attack with a broken leg. Reports said the main reason she survived because the police man came between her and the bomber.
Some Egyptian media reported that the suspected extremist, aged 37,was cornered in a narrow alleyway near the famous Al Azhar Mosque. Semi-official newspaper Al Akhbar identified him as Al Hassan Abdullah.
Egypt has experienced a wave of deadly attacks mainly against security forces since the army’s 2013 overthrow of president Mohammad Mursi, a Brotherhood official, following enormous street protests against his rule.
On Saturday, seven militants were killed in an attack on a security checkpoint in North Sinai, the army said. One officer and 14 soldiers were killed and injured in an ensuing gunfight, according to an army statement.
16 terrorists killed in Egypt gunfight
hours after the militant blew himself up in Cairo, sixteen terrorists were killed in a shootout with Egyptian security forces in North Sinai on Tuesday, security sources said.
Tuesday’s gunfight erupted after security forces raided two hotbeds of suspected terrorists who had planned attacks against “vital installations and important personalities” in the city of Al Arish, the capital of North Sinai, the sources added.
The terrorists opened fire at the security forces, who responded and killed a total of 16 from them.
Firearms, ammunition, bombs and explosive belts were seized in both sites, according to the sources.
In recent months, Egyptian authorities have announced aborting planned attacks by extremist suspects.
