ISIL Claims Cairo Terrorist Blast
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - An Egyptian affiliate of the Takfiri group, ISIL (the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), claimed Friday the killing of six people, including three policemen, in a bomb blast during a Cairo apartment raid.
Thursday's explosion in the capital's Al-Haram district, near the pyramids, came as police raided a flat suspected to be a militant hideout and tried to defuse an explosive device, the interior ministry said on its Facebook page.
It said two unknown individuals were among those killed, and blamed the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement of ousted president Mohammad Mursi for the blast.
However, an Egyptian affiliate of the ISIL group on Friday said it lured the officers to the apartment, which was "rigged with bombs", AFP reported.
"When the infidels entered, the bomb-rigged house was blown up," ISIL Egypt group said in a statement posted on extremist websites.
The interior ministry said a group of Muslim Brotherhood members had used the apartment to manufacture explosives.
Thirteen other people were wounded in the blast, it added.
Al-Haram has witnessed several attacks and gunfights since the army ousted Mursi in July 2013.
The neighborhood is known to house many Mursi sympathizers and has been the scene of clashes between his supporters and security forces in the aftermath of his ouster by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
It also houses several hotels used by tourists visiting Cairo because of its proximity to the world-famous pyramids.