Civilian killed, several injured in Egypt bombings

Updated: 2015-02-03 21:12

(Xinhua)

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CAIRO - A civilian was killed and several others were wounded in a series of bombings that hit Egypt on Tuesday.

In the coastal city of Alexandria, a hawker selling fast food was killed when a bomb went off targeting a security convoy that was passing by, state media reported. Two other people were injured in the blast.

In the restive Sinai Peninsula, an explosive device exploded at the international border road between Egypt and Gaza Strip, a security source told Xinhua.

The device hit an army vehicle which was carrying soldiers to Arish city, the source said.

Egypt's military forces have been battling an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, 2013.

Since then, a wave of bombings which were centered in Sinai have crept into the capital and other Delta cities.

So far, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed by armed attacks in response to a government crackdown on Morsi's supporters that left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

Also, a bomb hit downtown Cairo on Tuesday morning, leaving four people injured.

Khalid Youssef, assistant interior minister at Cairo Security Directorate, told MENA that the bomb was planted at a corridor leading to an electricity room at Talaat Harb Street.

Witnesses told state-run Nile TV that the blast destroyed the wall in front of two stores.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for Tuesday's blasts.

Additionally, in different places in Cairo, security measures were beefed up at Cairo International Airport after two bombs were found at terminals, according to local media.

On Thursday, 33 people were killed and 90 injured in attacks on security premises in Egypt's North Sinai.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that his government was determined to fight terrorists in Sinai.

"Egypt is facing the strongest secret organization in the world, " said Sisi, referring to the currently-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group from which Morsi hails.

Sisi also issued a decision to form unified anti-terrorist military command for the eastern Canal region, and ordered to allocate 10 million Egyptian pounds (1.3 million U.S. dollars) for fighting terrorism and developing the Peninsula.

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