CAIRO—A suicide bombing in the heart of Egypt’s capital killed two police officers late Monday, the third attack in four days on the country’s security forces, as they carry out a yearslong campaign against Islamic State and other extremist groups.

A man blew himself up in a Cairo neighborhood near the 10th century Al-Azhar Mosque, as police attempted to arrest him, according to a statement from Egypt’s Interior Ministry carried by the official MENA news agency. Two policemen died and two others were injured, the statement...</s>CAIRO — Egypt's Interior Ministry says a suicide bomber killed two police officers and wounded three more while he was being pursued near Cairo's famed Khan el-Khalili tourist marketplace.

The Monday night explosion in the Gamaliya district was a rarity for a central area of the capital, after progress from a security crackdown under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

A body was seen on the street behind areas cordoned off by dozens of police and soldiers after the explosion, which shattered windows and blew curtains off nearby balconies. Egypt's renowned Al-Azhar mosque is nearby.

Egypt is facing an Islamic State-led insurgency that is largely limited to the northern Sinai but which occasionally spills out to the mainland.</s>At least two policemen have been killed after a man has blown himself up in the center of Cairo, Egypt's interior ministry said. Three other people were injured in the blast, which happened as security forces were chasing after the suspect. The motive of the attack is now being investigated.</s>A suicide bomber killed two policemen and injured three others who were chasing him in a busy tourist area of Cairo.

The explosion took the lives of two officers who were chasing a man believed to have targeted security staff near a mosque last week, Egypt's interior ministry said.

The blast in the crowded Darb al-Ahmar district late last night also killed the bomber and injured three other policemen.

'As security surrounded the man and was set to arrest and control him, an explosive device in his possession went off,' the ministry said.

The man was being pursued as part of 'efforts to search for the perpetrator' responsible for planting an explosive device near security staff close to a mosque in Giza on Friday, the ministry said.

Security had been able to defuse that device, the ministry said.

Yesterday's explosion took place near Al Azhar mosque at the heart of ancient Islamic Cairo, damaging several shops.

The site was cordoned off and reporters were not immediately allowed access to the area.

'My shop's front and windows were destroyed,' said Kareem Sayed Awad, a barbershop owner. 'Not only that, but people have died. This is a tourist area and such incidents affect it.'

Egypt's tourism industry has been struggling to recover from attacks and domestic instability that has hit the country in the years following a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

In December three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian guide died when a homemade bomb exploded on their bus on the outskirts of Cairo, near the famed pyramids in Giza.

Authorities have been seeking to lure tourists back by touting new archaeological discoveries and bolstering security around archaeological sites and in airports.

Tourism has slowly started picking up. The official statistics agency says tourist arrivals in Egypt in 2017 reached 8.3 million, up from 5.3 million the year before.

But that figure was still far short of the record influx in 2010 when over 14 million visitors flocked to the country.

Egypt has also for years been battling an Islamist insurgency, which deepened following military's ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have been mainly concentrated in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula but have also spread to the mainland.

In February 2018, security forces launched a major anti-militant operation focused on the Sinai Peninsula, aimed at wiping out a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

On Saturday, an attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint in north Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected jihadist assailants killed, according to the military.</s>CAIRO (AP) — The death toll from a late-night suicide blast near Cairo's famed tourist market rose to three on Tuesday after a police officer died of his wounds, Egypt's Interior Ministry said.

The fatalities in the attack near the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in the heart of Cairo were all policemen. The explosion late Monday also wounded two other policemen and a woman, officials said.

The attack was a rarity for the central area of Egypt's capital amid a years-long security crackdown under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

The Interior Ministry said the attacker, 37-year-old al-Hassan Abdullah, blew himself up after police officers approached to arrest him. He was wanted in a bombing last Friday near a mosque in Cairo's district of Giza and the police had been monitoring his movements, the statement said. The attacker's affiliation was not known and no militant group claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The ministry had blamed members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for last week's attack, which it said targeted a security checkpoint and wounded three people.

Following Monday's explosion, which shattered windows and blew curtains off nearby balconies, police and soldiers cordoned off the narrow streets around the bazaar. A body, presumably of the attacker, covered with a white sheet stained with blood, was seen lying on the ground in the blocked-off area, close to Egypt's renowned Al-Azhar mosque.

In a house nearby, police found a bomb and bomb-making material, which prompted the evacuation of the whole building, said the security officials.

In the restive north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security forces killed 16 militants and seized explosives and weapons in two raids, security officials said Tuesday. The raids involved clashes with Islamic militants in the desert outside the city of el-Arish, they said. It was unclear when the battle took place.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. The militants have mainly targeted security forces and Christians.

Egypt last year launched a wide-scale security operation focused on northern Sinai, where an Islamic State affiliate has carried out many attacks in recent years.</s>A suicide bomber detonated an in the heart of ancient Islamic Cairo, killing three policemen who were chasing him through its narrow alleyways, medical and security sources said on Tuesday.

Monday evening's bombing, in the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood near the historic Al-Azhar mosque, also wounded two other policemen, the interior ministry said in a statement.

"As security forces surrounded the man and were about to stop him and bring him under control, an in his possession detonated," the ministry said.

Video posted on on Tuesday morning showed police catching up with a male before being enveloped by an explosion. The ministry said the bomber was being chased as part of a manhunt for those responsible for a foiled bomb attack near a mosque in Cairo's twin city of on Friday.

Monday evening's blast damaged several shops in the alleyway which lies in an area frequented by foreign tourists.

"My shop's front and windows were destroyed," said Kareem Sayed Awad, a barbershop owner.

"The problem is not only that but also that people died. This is a tourist area and such incidents affect it," he said.

Egypt's tourism industry, which had already been hit by the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring revolution of 2011, has been further damaged by a series of deadly attacks against foreign tourists by suspected Islamist militants.

In December, three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a homemade bomb exploded on their bus near the famed pyramids in

Authorities have made major efforts to lure tourists back, touting a series of archaeological finds and a new museum next to the pyramids, as well as enhanced security at airports and around ancient sites.

Tourism has slowly picked up, with tourist arrivals reaching 8.3 million in 2017, compared with 5.3 million the previous year, official statistics showed.

But that figure was still far short of the record influx of 2010 when more than 14 million visitors flocked to see the country's sites.</s>A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of ancient Islamic Cairo, killing three policemen who were chasing him through its narrow alleyways, medical and security sources said on Tuesday.

Monday evening's bombing, in the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood near the historic Al-Azhar mosque, also wounded two other policemen, the interior ministry said in a statement.

"As security forces surrounded the man and were about to stop him and bring him under control, an explosive device in his possession detonated," the ministry said.

Video posted on social media on Tuesday morning showed police catching up with a male cyclist before being enveloped by an explosion.

The ministry said the bomber was being chased as part of a manhunt for those responsible for a foiled bomb attack near a mosque in Cairo's twin city of Giza on Friday.

Monday evening's blast damaged several shops in the alleyway which lies in an area frequented by foreign tourists.

"My shop's front and windows were destroyed," said Kareem Sayed Awad, a barbershop owner.

"The problem is not only that but also that people died. This is a tourist area and such incidents affect it," he said.

Egypt's tourism industry, which had already been hit by the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring revolution of 2011, has been further damaged by a series of deadly attacks against foreign tourists by suspected Islamist militants.

In December, three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a homemade bomb exploded on their bus near the famed pyramids in Giza.

Authorities have made major efforts to lure tourists back, touting a series of archaeological finds and a new museum next to the pyramids, as well as enhanced security at airports and around ancient sites.

Tourism has slowly picked up, with tourist arrivals reaching 8.3 million in 2017, compared with 5.3 million the previous year, official statistics showed.

But that figure was still far short of the record influx of 2010 when more than 14 million visitors flocked to see the country's sites.

Since the 2013 ouster by the army of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Egypt has been battling a persistent jihadist insurgency, centred in the Sinai Peninsula.

In February 2018, security forces launched a major operation against the local affiliate of the Islamic State group, which has been mainly focused on volatile North Sinai province but has also targeted jihadist cells elsewhere in the country.

Egypt has often announced the killing of jihadists during Operation Sinai 2018, but statements on significant losses by the security force have been rare.

On Saturday, the army reported that an attack on a checkpoint in North Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected jihadist assailants killed.

On Tuesday, the interior ministry announced that 16 suspected jihadists had been killed during raids in the provincial capital El-Arish. It did not say when.

The raids, on a deserted building in the city's Al-Obaydat neighbourhood and a house under construction in the Abu Eita district, targeted suspected "terrorist cells" in the city and triggered firefights in which the 16 were killed, the ministry said.</s>A man being chased by police detonated explosives near Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, killing himself and two of the officers, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said Monday.

Three other police were wounded in the blast, which occurred at around 9.00 pm.

Police had previously identified the man as the perpetrator of an attempted bombing last Friday at another mosque in the capital, Al-Istiqama, just as worshippers were leaving after mid-day prayers, the ministry said in a statement.

Security forces established a perimeter around the crime scene in the Gamaliya district of central Cairo, which includes the well-known Khan el-Khalili tourist marketplace as well as Al-Azhar.

When police caught up to the suspect, "one of the explosive devices in his possession exploded, causing the death of the terrorist and the martyrdom of a police officer from national security and an officer from Cairo investigations (department)," the Interior Ministry said.

The Egyptian army said over the weekend that troops killed seven "terrorists" in the northern Sinai peninsula following an attack by militants.

While Egyptian officials offered no details on the original attack, other Arab governments offered condolences to the families of 15 people killed and wounded.

A police officer died on Jan. 5 as he tried to deactivate a bomb discovered near a Christian church in Cairo just two days ahead of the Coptic Christmas.

That incident came a week after the deaths of three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian guide when a bomb went off a tour bus en route to the Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of the capital.

The Giza blast was Egypt's first attack against tourists using explosives since late 2015, when a bomb blew a Russian airliner out of the skies above Sinai, killing all 224 people aboard.

Egypt responded to the Giza incident with raids near Cairo and in Sinai that resulted in the deaths of 40 suspected extremists.

This nation of nearly 100,000 people has been under a state of emergency since April 2017, following a series of terrorist attacks against Coptic Christian churches in the Nile delta.

The Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State has claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist activity in the country during the last five years.</s>A man being chased by police detonated explosives near Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, killing himself and two of the officers, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said Monday.

Three other police were wounded in the blast, which occurred at around 9.00 pm.</s>A suspected bomber and two policemen were killed when an explosive device went off in Cairo as security forces were chasing a suspect, the Interior Ministry said late Monday.

Two policemen were also injured in the blast that took place in al-Darb al-Ahmar neighborhood, near the tourist Old Cairo area.

The terror attack took place behind the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, sources added.
A suicide bombing kills the bomber and three police officers in Cairo, Egypt. Two others are injured.