Four blasts in Cairo kill six and injure 80 on eve of uprising anniversary

Cairo was rocked by four explosions yesterday that killed at least six people, injured 80 and severely damaged artefacts inside a major Egyptian museum.

The first and largest explosion was a suicide bomb that struck Cairo's police headquarters early in the morning – the eve of the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Two smaller blasts occurred near a metro station and a police station in west Cairo. The first killed one person and injured four after a passing driver threw a grenade at police vehicles, officials said. No casualties were reported from the second blast.

The fourth blast went off outside a cinema on Haram Street, which leads to the Giza pyramids, as a police convoy passed on its way from clashes with Morsi supporters.

The explosions mark an apparent escalation of an insurgency waged by Islamist extremists since the ousting of Mohamed Morsi last July, which has killed more than 100 police officers and soldiers. It follows an audio warning by Egypt's most prominent extremist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which claimed responsibility for a failed attack on Egypt's interior minister and last month's bomb at a police headquarters which killed 16 officers.

The group condemns the police, who were the target of three of yesterday’s explosions, for the post-Morsi crackdown on Islamists.

More violence is feared today, after the prime minister, Hazem Beblawy, called on Egyptians to use the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising to march in support of the police.

The suicide bomb occurred shortly after 6.30am, after the closure of a nearby security checkpoint, according to Mahmoud Abdel Sattar, a 27-year-old sergeant on duty on the building’s third floor.

“A big truck exploded outside the fence,” Mr Sattar said, while being treated for a head wound at a nearby hospital.

The explosion smashed windows and walls. It damaged the collection of the Islamic Museum, which stands opposite, after debris crushed glass and ceramic artefacts.

Crackdown on dissent
The attacks may strengthen the hand of Egypt's current government, which has justified its crackdown on dissent as an essential means of combatting terrorism. More than 1,000 Morsi supporters have been killed in the crackdown.

David Barnett, an analyst, said the evidence for Brotherhood involvement in the attacks was tenuous at best. "While Ansar Beit el-Maqdis has acknowledged having former members of the Muslim Brotherhood within its ranks, these are former members who specifically left because they were upset that the Muslim Brotherhood was not implementing violent jihad," he said.

Reuters reported that about 2,000 Morsi supporters clashed with security forces in Cairo after Friday prayers. – (Guardian service)