Blast kills 1 in Alexandria; two bombs defused at Cairo airport

CAIRO: A roadside bomb near Egypt’s second largest city Alexandria killed a bystander and injured two others on Tuesday, while authorities defused two more explosives at Cairo International Airport, officials said.<br>There are rarely individual claims of responsibility, but militant groups have vowed to target police and military troops to avenge their crackdown on hard-liners in the wake of the ouster of President Muhammad Mursi in 2013.<br>Reflecting the increased public fear and awareness, a popular smartphone application designed to provide information on traffic jams started a new service last week titled “Where is the bomb” to alert commuters of reports of roadside explosives.<br>Tuesday’s roadside bombing was a rare incident of a civilian killed by these rudimentary explosives. The officials said the bomb was targeting a police patrol driving in the beachfront town of Agamy, on the western outskirts of Alexandria. The bomb went off, apparently detonated remotely, as the vehicles moved — injuring a street peddler, his son and a bystander. The bystander later died of his wounds, the officials said.<br>In Cairo, officials said a bomb was planted in the Cairo International Airport arrival hall of the terminal hosting EgyptAir. Another was planted near a police patrol location in the airport’s parking lot. Both were defused. The officials said the bombs appeared to be controlled remotely by mobile phone. Airport officials said flights were not affected.<br>In another incident, a flash-bang grenade planted inside an electrical box in an open-air arcade in downtown Cairo exploded, panicking passers-by, but causing no injuries.