Daesh claims responsibility for Cairo blast

CAIRO: Daesh claimed responsibility on Friday for a bomb attack that killed nine people in Cairo.
In a statement on social media, it said its fighters carried out the operation that killed six policemen and three others during a raid on a booby-trapped home on Thursday near the site of Egypt’s pyramids.
Authorities have intensified a crackdown on dissent ahead of next week’s anniversary of the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, with police checking social media accounts and raiding apartments seeking any sign of plans for organized protests.
Security forces questioned residents and searched apartments at more than 5,000 homes in central Cairo as a “precautionary measure” over the past ten days, aiming to ensure Egyptians do not take to the streets, as they have so many times in the recent years, officials said Thursday.
Surveillance and intelligence was gathered over months, focusing on young, pro-democracy activists inside and outside the country, including foreigners, one of the senior security official said. He added that some people have also been detained.
“We are very concerned and will not allow protests,” he said, speaking, as his colleague did. “These movements are aimed at polarizing society and mobilizing the masses against the government,” he added.
Security forces nationwide are bracing themselves for the anniversary of the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Officials, including President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, have voiced concern over attempts to mark the anniversary with new protests and security forces have arrested a number of activists.