At least 10 persons, including seven policemen, were killed and 20 others injured in Egypt when militants linked with Islamic State group exploded bombs in a booby-trapped apartment near the iconic pyramids of Giza during a raid by security forces.
The bomb blast in the capital's Al-Haram district, near the pyramids, took place yesterday when police raided a flat suspected to be a militant hideout.
Ten people, including seven policemen and three civilians, were killed in the explosion, prosecutor Ahmed El-Tamawy was quoted as saying by Al Ahram.
An Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group, Ansar Beit el-Maqdes, today claimed responsibility for the blast in a statement posted on jihadist websites.
The Sinai-based militant group claimed that it lured the officers to the apartment, which was "rigged with bombs".
"When the infidels entered, the bomb-rigged house was blown up," the terror group said in the statement.
The interior ministry, however, had earlier blamed the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi for the blast.
It said a group of Muslim Brotherhood members was using the apartment to manufacture explosives.
A civilian who lived in the building was killed in the explosion, and two charred bodies were found inside the apartment, according to the ministry's statement.
A Lieutenant of the Central Security Forces was among the deceased.
The blast took place ahead of the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution on Monday that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak. Sisi has warned against any form of demonstration on that day.
Al-Haram has witnessed several attacks and gunfights since the army ousted Islamist Morsi in July 2013.
Militants have regularly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Morsi.
Jihadists claim their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.
Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president and succeeded Mubarak, who was driven from power after an 18-day popular uprising.
IS has claimed responsibility for multiple suicide bombings and attacks targeting the Egyptian army and police in the past year.
In recent months, Egyptian security forces have carried out several raids on apartments where suspected or fugitive Islamists militants were reportedly either hiding or preparing for "terrorist operations".
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