One dead, four injured in central Cairo blast

A bomb was thrown from a bridge on to the street near a five-star hotel and the Egyptian Museum, killing an Arab man and injuring four foreigners, Cairo police said today.

Remains of a body, covered with newspapers, were seen beneath the bridge a few minutes after the 3.15pm (1.15pm Irish time) blast was heard throughout central Cairo. The blast happened on a road next to a public bus station down the street from the Egyptian Museum.

Police said four foreigners were injured. Their nationalities and the extent of their wounds weren’t immediately known.

Initially, police said they believed a car had exploded, but no vehicle debris could be seen in the area. A senior policeman on the scene said a bomb was thrown from the bridge above to the street below. Some witnesses at the scene gave similar accounts.

“I saw a very loud explosion after what looked like a man throwing a bomb down from the bridge,” said Mohammed Hasan Mohammed, 45.

He said he saw two injured Westerners being taken away for medical treatment.

Two rings of tape cordoned off the area where the body lay. Investigators uncovered the body and knelt to inspect it.

Scores of heavily-armed police, including riot officers in helmets and carrying submachine guns, kept away the crowds who gathered to watch, standing on benches and potted plants to get a view.

In a sign of the tension and uncertainty, police singled out a few youths to inspect the bags they were carrying.

The blast, about 100 meters from the back of the Egyptian Museum, not far from a five-star hotel, is the second apparent bomb attack in the vicinity of major Cairo tourist attractions in less than a month.

On April 7, a suicide bomber killed two French citizens, an American and himself when he detonated a home-made bomb near the Khan al-Khalili market on April 7.