10 killed in Cairo bomb blast as police raid militant hideout near pyramids

A bomb blast killed 10 people, including seven policemen and three civilians, after police raided a suspected militant hideout near Giza, home to Egypt's pyramids, the official al-Ahram newspaper reported. 

Initial reports said that three Egyptian policemen and three civilians died, police said. More than a dozen people have been injured by the blast. 

The explosion on Thursday in the capital's al-Haram area, near the pyramids, came ahead of next week's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Security officials said the force of the explosion damaged part of the building housing the apartment.

Al-Haram has been the scene of several attacks and gunfights since the overthrow of the country's first democratically elected Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Morsi has since been arrested and his Muslim Brotherhood organisation has been branded a terrorist group by authorities, although it denies supporting violence. 

The neighbourhood is considered sympathetic to Morsi and was a regular venue for clashes between his supporters and security forces in the aftermath of his removal by then-army chief and now President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The district also houses several hotels used by tourists visiting Cairo because of its proximity to the pyramids.

Militants have regularly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Morsi.

The Cairo bombing comes after gunmen killed five policemen late on Wednesday when they attacked a checkpoint in the North Sinai town of El-Arish.

The Islamic State (IS) group's Egyptian affiliate, the Sinai Province, claimed that attack.