5 killed, 16 injured in blast near Coptic Cathedral in Cairo

CAIRO -- Five people were killed and 16 others injured on Sunday in an explosion near the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt's Health Ministry said in a statement.

The security forces rushed to the scene and launched operations to search the assailants and other possible explosive devices, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release.

No one has claimed yet responsibility for the attack.

On Friday, six policemen were killed when explosive devices exploded at a security checkpoint stationed on the road leading to the Pyramids near Cairo.

A minor Islamist military faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Egypt, bomb attacks are endemic in North Sinai Province, where the Islamic State-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group has carried out hundreds of anti-security attacks following the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the army in response to mass protest against his rule in 2013.

However, some attacks crept to Cairo and other major cities across the country.

The terrorist attacks have claimed lives of hundreds of police and army personnel as well as a number of civilians.