Child killed as bomb blast rocks Egypt's Alexandria

A child was killed by a bomb blast on Friday in Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria, an Interior Ministry spokesman has said.

"A child was killed and four other people were injured when an explosive device went off in eastern Alexandria," Hani Abdel-Latif told The Anadolu Agency.

According to eyewitnesses, the blast occurred shortly after a security patrol passed through the area.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Earlier Friday, security forces dismantled four explosive devices in the area around Alexandria's Qaed Ibrahim Mosque.

The mosque had been set as a gathering point for a planned rally in support of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, a security general requesting anonymity has said.

“The perpetrators are currently being tracked down,” the official added. 

Several pro-army politicians and media personalities had called for mass protests on Friday to support the government’s “war on terrorism” in the wake of several simultaneous militant attacks on army forces in the Sinai Peninsula late last month that were said to have left scores dead. According to eyewitnesses who posted accounts on social media, several dozens of people turned up on the day, and those who did were directed away by security officials who had tightened security in the area following the blast. 

The calls for pro-army rallies, echoed Sisi's calls for mass demonstrations in mid-2013 to show support for a “popular mandate to combat terrorism and violence". 

Above, one sarcastic tweet out of many on Twitter commented: "A million man march in support of Sisi's war on terrorism which caused traffic due to overcrowdedness."

Those rallies were followed by a nationwide crackdown on supporters of ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, which remains ongoing.