Egypt: blast in Cairo left two people dead and nine injured

Supreme Court building in Cairo after the blast
(Image: Ahram Online)

A bomb went off on Monday, 2 March, in front of Cairo’s Supreme Court building, leaving two people dead and nine injured, among them seven policemen, according to the statement of Egyptian Health Ministry and Ministry of Interior.

Official spokesperson of Egypt’s Health Ministry declared that a 22 years old man died at the hospital of injuries sustained in his backbone, while another victim, 24 years old man had suffered internal bleedings and serious head injury and also died later at the hospital.

Nine people were injured as a result of an attack, among them seven policemen, as the attack was aimed at the police checkpoint located next to the building of the Supreme Court in Cairo’s Ramsees Street.

Police and security forces have sealed off the neighboring area, where the Prosecutor General headquarters are also located, and blocked the roads leading to the explosion area. 

Special team of the experts arrived to the scene in order to search for other possible explosive devices and defuse them in case they would be found, though no other bombs were found in the area.

Despite the police forces have sealed off the area, a huge crowd of people has gathered close to the explosion site. Hundreds of people have surrounded the area, standing next to the police cordons and chanting in support of Egyptian police.

Cairo Governor Galal Sayed has arrived on the scene to examine the situation and the aftermath of the bombing.

Police cordoned off the area of the blast
(Image: Yahoo News)

Egypt has been experiencing series of bombings since 2013 ouster of the Islamist backed President Mohamed Morsi. Armed forces and police usually become the main target of the jihadists’ attacks, though the latest months brought many explosions to the cities nationwide as well, including Cairo.

Egyptian authorities and security forces have also stated that they are in state of alert regarding other possible attacks on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held in Egypt in March and April 2015. Egyptian authorities have reportedly received some threats of the possible attacks and bombings of the police stations, some governmental buildings and foreign countries’ embassies as well, thus, security measures are being taken.

Meanwhile, this particular area has witnessed several explosions earlier, when a bomb went off in the same location in October 2014 and caused 13 injuries and no deaths. Later, in February 2015, another bomb exploded on the neighboring Qasr Al-Nil Street, leaving no casualties and no injuries as well.