Bombs hit Egypt in run-up to elections

A poster of (ex) army chief El Sisi. This Saturday the elections campaign in Egypt started. (AFP)

One person was killed when a car exploded in downtown Cairo in the late hours of Friday, the fourth explosion in Egypt in one day. The explosion took place in Cairo’s Ramsis street near a subway station, an interior ministry spokesman told state-run news agency MENA. The owner of the car was killed.
Earlier Friday at least four people were killed in three other explosions. Two suicide attacks occurred in South Sinai. One targeted the Wady El Tor" security checkpoint, killing the attacker and a conscript, while five others were wounded. The second attack targeted a tour bus carrying workers of a tourist company in "Ras Gara" area in the South Sinai governorate. In this case at least four people were wounded. In Cairo, a low ranking police officer was killed and four other security personnel - an officer and three conscripts - were injured in an explosion of a bomb in Heliopolis district at a traffic checkpoint. In other violence in the port city of Alexandria, two people were shot dead when supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi clashed with residents, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Hundreds of police and army personnel have been killed since the toppling of Morsi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Militants, including Al-Qaeda-inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, have vowed to increase their attacks in the run-up to Egypt's presidential elections later this month.