Police general killed in Cairo bombings

Seven people injured in three blasts that appeared to target a police post outside the main campus, where pro-Morsi protests are held almost daily.

An Egyptian woman runs for cover after the first of three bomb blasts struck a police post at Cairo University on April 2, 2014. Mohamed El-Shahed / AFP

CAIRO // Three bombs exploded outside Cairo University’s main campus on Wednesday, killing a police general and wounding seven others, including several top police officers.

The blasts appeared to target riot police deployed outside the university to confront near daily protests by Islamist students, though none were going on at the time.

The first two bombs, which security officials said were hidden at the foot of a tree, went off less than a minute apart. The third, concealed up another tree nearby, exploded nearly two hours later.

The staggered nature of the blasts in a relatively close area introduced a new tactic in a campaign of attacks targeting Egypt’s police and military that began with the ouster last summer of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. The attacks are taking place amid a crackdown by security forces against pro-Morsi protesters and members of his Muslim Brotherhood.

The interim prime minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, attended the funeral of the slain police officer, who was identified as Brig Gen Tareq Al Margawy.

The country’s most powerful political figure, former military chief Abdel Fattah El Sissi – who removed Mr Morsi from office in July and this month left the military to run in the presidential election next month – denounced the bombings and vowed, “Egypt will march forward and will not succumb to black terrorism.”

Officials said all the casualties were caused by the first two blasts. They had earlier reported that a civilian was also killed, but later said that the general’s civilian clothes had led to confusion and that he was the lone fatality in the bombings.

Egyptian state TV described the bombs as crude and homemade.

The wounded included four civilians and three senior police officers, including Maj Gen Abdel-Raouf El Sirafy, who is the deputy chief of police in the Giza province, parts of which are located in the Greater Cairo area. Cairo University’s main campus is in Giza.

Cairo University, along with other university campuses, has been a major centre for protests by pro-Morsi students against the military-backed interim government since the months-long crackdown has largely crushed protests elsewhere. The university protests often turn into clashes with security forces.

After the bombings on Wednesday, police chased down and detained several students on the streets nearby. There was no immediate word on the number of arrests.

Egypt has seen a series of suicide bombings, car bombings and assassination targeting security forces, and an Al Qaeda-inspired militant group based in the Sinai Peninsula called Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has taken responsibility for most of them. Cruder bombings have also targeted police patrols and positions in the street, often claimed by lesser known militant groups.

The military-backed interim government accuses Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood of organising the campaign of violence and has branded the group a terrorist organisation. Hundreds of Islamists have been killed and more than 16,000 arrested in authorities’ bid to crush the Brotherhood.

The group denies any link to terror organisations and insists its protests are peaceful. It says the prosecution of its members is intended to give a legal veneer to what it sees as the illegal removal of an elected president.

* Associated Press