Both an ISIS-affiliated group and another militant group in Egypt have claimed responsibility for the bombing that took place in Giza governorate’s Haram district on Thursday, killing at least 10 people.
Damaged cars are seen at the scene of a bomb blast in Giza, Egypt, January 21, 2016. A bomb attack killed six people, including three policemen, on Thursday near a road leading to the pyramids in the Cairo suburb of Giza, security sources said. (Reuters)
In a statement issued on Friday and published on its alleged Twitter accounts, Sinai-based Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis “ABM” claims that 10 Egyptian police personnel were killed when they entered a “booby-trapped” house in Marioutiya Thursday night.
An hour after the announcement by ABM another militant group called “Revolutionary Punishment” claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on Facebook.
The group claimed that it lured police to the apartment at which point two of its members carried out a suicide bombing which killed a former state security police officer, among others.
According to the official statement of Egypt’s prosecution, ten people, including seven policemen and three civilians, were killed in the explosion.
The ministry of interior also stated that policemen and other victims were killed or injured as officers attempted to defuse a time-bomb during the raid on an apartment in Marioutiya where suspected Islamist militants were believed to be staying.
The explosion left 13 injured, two of whom are in critical condition.
According to the ministry’s statement, a civilian who lived in the building was killed in the explosion, and two charred bodies were found inside the apartment.
“Revolutionary Punishment” apologised in its statement that civilians were killed in the attack, vowing to compensate them as well as vowing for more operations against security forces in the future.
The militant group emerged earlier this year, claiming responsibility for attacks on mobile phone shops and banks across the country, as well as attacks against police officers.
Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based militant group has already claimed responsibility for most of the attacks against security forces in North Sinai. It also claimed responsibility for the bombings of security directorates in Cairo and Dakahlia.
