Six die in Cairo bombing

Police officers and conscripts hit in checkpoint attack

CAIRO // Six policemen were killed in a bombing at a checkpoint in Cairo yesterday.

The attack occurred in the western Talibiya neighbourhood shortly before Friday prayers, a time when Cairo’s streets are mostly empty.

The Hassam Movement, a little-known militant group that has claimed a string of recent attacks, said it was responsible for the bombing. The United Arab Emirates strongly condemned the bombing, saying it stood firmly by Egypt’s side in the face of such crimes. It stressed that such acts would not undermine the resolve of the people of Egypt and its determination to continue to address decisively the terrorism that has no country, religion nor morality.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed condolences to the families of the martyrs and to the government and people of Egypt and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. The blast was also condemned by Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al Azhar University.

“Such abhorrent terrorist at- tacks will only embolden the Egyptian people and the police to uproot terrorism,” he said.

Egypt’s interior ministry said the bomb exploded next to a checkpoint, killing two officers, a policeman and three conscripts. Three other conscripts were wounded.

Militants have repeatedly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew president Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and began cracking down on his followers. Most attacks are carried out in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula by an ISIL affiliate, but militants have also hit security forces and officials in the capital.