Bomb blast injures 10 at Cairo University
A bomb has exploded outside Egypt’s largest and most prominent university in the country’s capital, wounding 10 people, including six policemen.
The bomb, described as a rudimentary device, went off following clashes between police and Islamist students who were protesting outside the sprawling campus, the Egyptian interior ministry said.
It was the second bombing outside Cairo University in the past six months.
Universities have seen regular protests since the military’s ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last year. Earlier this month, clashes between pro-Morsi students and police erupted again on the first day of the school year at several Egyptian universities.
After today’s explosion, security forces quickly cordoned off the area, according to footage from private television stations. Security officials said explosive experts were combing the area.
The interior ministry said four of the wounded are officers and two are conscripts, while the remaining four are civilians.
In April, three bombs exploded outside Cairo University’s main campus, killing a police general and wounding seven others, including several top police officers.
The bombings came at the height of clashes between students and police near the university.
A group called Ajnad Misr, or Egypt’s Soldiers, claimed responsibility for the April bombing.
In a statement, it said it was waging a campaign of retribution and that the slain police general had been involved in killings of protesters.
It said the attack also came in response to increased detentions of female protesters.
Egyptian universities have been at the centre of protests since Mr Morsi’s ouster and clashes between mostly Islamist students and police take place frequently.
At least 16 Egyptian students were killed in campus protests last school year, according to the watchdog group Student Watch.
