Explosion of bus in Cairo's Madinet Nasr leaves 5 injured

[DJKeefy]

The prosecution's initial investigation of the site of the explosion in Nasr City, Cairo and eyewitnesses' testimonies showed that the bus first accidentally broke down over the bomb. Most of the passengers left the vehicle seeking alternative means of transportation to their destinations minutes before the bomb detonated.

Investigations also revealed a half metre hole in the ground underneath the bus from the impact of the explosion.

A huge explosion took place Thursday morning near a school complex in Nasr City east of Cairo, Assistant Director of Civil Emergency Services Gamal Halawa told Ahram Arabic news website.

Five bus passengers were injured and no deaths have been reported.

The explosion took place on Mostafa Nahas Street - near to an Al-Azhar university building, the headquarters of National Security as well as a police station.

The area was immediately cordoned by the police for investigations.

The wounded were transported to the Health Insurance Hospital in Nasr City, Head of Ambulance Service Ahmed El-Ansary told Ahram Arabic Website.


Home-made bombs

Cairo's Director of explosives department at the ministry of interior Alaa Abd El-Zaher told Ahram Arabic news website his experts also found an undetonated bomb planted in an advertisement stand in the garden in front of the school complex.

Explosives experts confirmed upon examination of the two bombs that they were home-made and contained gunpowder, nails and broken marble, Abd El-Zaher said.

Meanwhile, a number of eyewitnesses told Ahram website that the bomb exploded inside the bus not thrown at it as some officials seemed to indicate earlier.

An eyewitness stated that the public transportation bus, number 969, carried few passengers at the time of the bombing.

She added that the explosion occurred at 9:15am (CLT) and that passersby and police rushed to the bus to extricate the wounded.

The explosion did not affect surrounding vehicles and stores, the eyewitness added.


New explosion in tense weeks

The bombings come one day after Egyptian interim government declared on Wednesday the Muslim Brotherhood, from which ousted President Mohamed Morsi hails, a terrorist group.

The interim government reached its decision against the Brotherhood one day after a deadly explosion rocked the Daqahliya Security Directorate in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura. The bombing, which took place on Tuesday morning, resulted in the death of 16, mainly policemen, and the injury of more than 135.

The Muslim Brotherhood denied on Tuesday involvement in attacks on government buildings and security personnel.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the Mansoura blast.

Egyptian police announced that no suspects have been arrested yet.

Large protests over the past few weeks by pro-ousted president Mohamed Morsi students at Al-Azhar University, which is located near the site of Thursday's explosions, clashed repeatedly with security forces.

Pro-Morsi students denounced what they described as a "military coup" by the interim government and demanded the reinstatement of Morsi.

They were accused of storming and pillaging the University's main administrative building in mid-November.

Police responded to student protests with teargas arresting tens.

A pro-Mohamed Morsi Al-Azhar student was also shot dead during clashes with security forces.

Earlier in November, 12 Al-Azhar University students were sentenced to 17 years in prison over riots at Al-Azhar institution headquarters.

They were found guilty of attempting to storm the headquarters of the institution, which oversees the university, inciting riots and attacking employees and security personnel, as well as destroying public and private property.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/90060.aspx