Senior police officer killed in Egypt bombing
A police brigadier general was killed Wednesday morning in October Sixth City, west of the capital Cairo, when an explosive charge planted under his car exploded, a security source said.
Ahmed Zaki, a colonel with the anti-riot police division, was seriously wounded in the blast and was immediately rushed to a police hospital in Cairo, the source told Anadolu Agency. The officer later succumbed to his injuries, added the source.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, the fifth such targeted attack in Cairo within a week.
Egyptian police and army personnel have increasingly been targeted by attacks by militants since the military ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi last July.
Video footage posted on newspaper websites showed the front of the car destroyed. It was painted light green and not the usual dark blue colour of police vehicles.
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Police officers are increasingly having their cars repainted to avoid being easily identified and targeted by militants.
Zaki was the third senior police officer to be killed in attacks since the start of the year, with all three fatalities in Cairo. Three other police have been killed in four more attacks over the past week.
In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Wednesday, a police lieutenant was killed in a gunfight with wanted "terrorist elements", security officials said.
Egypt's police, feared for decades, faced public outrage over their tactics during the 2011 uprising which toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak.
A little-known militant group, Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), has claimed several attacks on police in Cairo.
But the deadliest attacks in Cairo and other parts of the country, including the restive Sinai Peninsula, have been claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem).
Official figures show about 500 people - mostly police and soldiers - have died in bomb attacks and shootings by militants since Morsi's ouster.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, says more than 1,400 people have been killed in the police crackdown on Morsi supporters.
More than 15,000 Islamists have been jailed, while hundreds have been condemned to death after often speedy trials.
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