16 hurt in crush after Cairo metro bomb
Light injuries caused after small bomb on train sets off ‘stampede’ among passengers
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CAIRO, Eygpt — Sixteen people were injured Thursday in a panicked crush on a Cairo metro train after a small bomb exploded during rush hour, officials said.
Egypt has been hit by a wave of attacks since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year, infuriating his supporters.
Health ministry official Ahmad Al-Ansari said that all 16 were lightly injured in a “stampede” caused by Thursday’s explosion, adding that nobody was struck by shrapnel.
Metro authority spokesman Ahmed Abdel Hady said the “sound bomb” had been placed inside a bag, leading to panic on the train.
The blast came after the Egyptian military said one of its navy vessels came under “terrorist” attack on Wednesday in the Mediterranean, leaving five servicemen injured and eight others missing at sea.
Last week a bomb on a train north of the capital killed four people, including two policemen, while blasts in the Cairo metro and near a presidential palace wounded several others.
Egypt is fighting an Islamist militant insurgency that has killed scores of policemen and soldiers, but a maritime attack is unprecedented.
Many of the previous attacks have been claimed by the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which on Monday pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
The Times of Israel Community.