Egypt kills suspected fighters a day after tourist bus bombing

Authorities say raids carried out against the armed Hasm group, a day after bombing in Cairo wounded several tourists.

Egyptian security forces have killed 12 suspected fighters in Cairo, the interior ministry said on Monday, a day after an explosion blasted a tourist bus, wounding several people.

A rudimentary device containing nails and pieces of metal detonated on the perimeter of the Grand Egyptian Museum near a bus carrying 25 South African tourists from the airport to the pyramids district on Sunday, wounding a number of people.

The ministry said in a statement carried by state TV that its national security forces had information that leaders of the armed Hasm group were planning “to carry out a series of attacks during the coming period to trigger chaos in the country”.

The statement did not say whether the suspected fighters were connected to Sunday’s attack, but said the Egyptian forces killed them during raids on their hideouts in the 6th of October and el-Shorouk districts of the capital.

Egypt accuses the Hasm group, which emerged in 2016 and has claimed several attacks, of being a wing of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood movement denies the claim and has distanced itself from the group. It says it seeks change through peaceful means only.

The ministry did not elaborate on whether there had been any casualties or injuries among the security forces, but said weapons and explosives were found at the scene of the shootouts.