Bomb kills one person in Cairo

A midday bomb blast in a boulevard in downtown Cairo kills one person and wounds 10, the health ministry says.

Shortly afterward, a little-known group claims responsibility for the attack.

The bomb is hidden under a car parked near the High Court — the country’s highest criminal court — and goes off in Cairo’s Ramses neighborhood. The area is very crowded, with dozens of street vendors selling their ware on stalls set up on the asphalt. Nearby are several bus stops, a railway station and a subway station.

Egyptian private The Seventh Day TV broadcasts footage of the site, showing hundreds of onlookers around cars with smashed windows and blood on the pavement. Police cordone off the area and state TV later report that a second bomb was dismantled before it went off.

The Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry earlier had said no one was killed, despite a previous state TV report mentioning that one person died. The wounded include seven policemen, the health ministry says.

A group calling itself “Revolutionary Punishment” claims responsibility on its Twitter account for Monday’s attack, saying they targeted a police checkpoint. The group is believed to mostly consist of Islamist youths seeking revenge for the ongoing crackdown on Morsi’s supporters.

— AP