Two bombs have exploded near police officers patrolling a bridge in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, wounding six policemen, an Interior Ministry official said.


The Friday morning announcement came shortly after Cairo resident reported hearing two blasts in the city center followed by ambulance sirens.

It was not immediately clear whether the explosive devices were planted at the site or were thrown by assailants.

"There was one powerful blast at 9:45 am local time (0745 GMT), followed by another, less powerful, two minutes later," a resident was cited as saying in an earlier AFP report.

The resident further explained that the blasts sounded as though they came from an area near the University of Cairo in the bustling Giza district.

The Egyptian capital was struck with four bombings two Fridays ago on January 24 which targeted military institutions and killed six people.

The following day, as Egyptians were celebrating the anniversary of their 2011 revolution which toppled US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak, a car bomb targeted a police base in Egypt’s canal city of Suez in which nine people were wounded. Two more blasts hit Cairo on the same day.

Egypt plunged into a fresh wave of political unrest on July 3, 2013, when the army ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s government, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the parliament.

Morsi’s removal triggered mass protests and deadly clashes between his supporters and security forces. Reports say at least 1,000 people have so far been killed and thousands of pro-Morsi activists arrested.