Two suspected militants were killed Sunday following clashes with police forces near the Suez-Cairo highway, according to an Interior Ministry statement detailing the police raid targeting the two men.
According to the ministry, the two men had participated in other operations targeting police officers, including the bomb explosion near the Heliopolis Court last month. The explosion, which took place in Heliopolis, killed Officer Hisham Al-Azab, who was head of the Nozha traffic department in eastern Cairo.
Al-Azab was twice taken to the operating theatre at Wadi El-Nil Hospital before passing away. Another police conscript was injured in the attack.
This was not the first bomb explosion of its kind in the vicinity of the Heliopolis Court. In March, one person was injured and two cars were damaged in a separate incident in the same area. Another explosive device was also detected afterwards, but was dismantled before it detonated.
The Interior Ministry added that the two suspects were involved in planting explosives near a building in Roxy Square, also in Heliopolis, injuring one officer. Another bombing that the two suspects were accused of engineering was an explosion in Zamalek in April, which occurred on the western end of the 15th of May Bridge. The explosion left one officer dead and two others injured.
The ministry added that the two militants fired at security forces, who returned fire, leading to the suspects’ deaths.
The abovementioned bombings were claimed by extremist militant group Ajnad Misr, with 20 alleged members of the group currently on trial, facing charges of conducting at least 20 different bomb attacks across Egypt. In April, the Giza Criminal Court imposed a media gag on the cases. Defendants are accused of killing security personnel, as well as undertaking acts of vandalism and possession of weapons.
Ajnad Misr has claimed, via social media, responsibility for several bomb attacks against police officers, causing a number of deaths and serious injuries. Their strategy includes vowing to attack targets, and either a video documenting the operation or a statement narrating the attack.
Bombings have become a frequent occurrence across Egypt, with a militant insurgency at its peak in North Sinai, and other attacks frequently occurring in Greater Cairo and other governorates. One of the most high profile of the recent attacks was the assassination in Heliopolis of prosecutor general Hisham Barakat in June. Barakat died on the same day in the Nozha Hospital, due to injuries sustained in the attack.
