A car bomb purportedly aimed for a police station in 6th of October City left three people dead and four injured on Tuesday evening, privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk reported.
The bomb hit the quiet suburban neighborhood minutes before sunset. The victims’ identities remain unknown, although reports suggest those carrying the explosives may be among the dead.
An Interior Ministry official told privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that two of the three people killed were in the car carrying the explosives.
According to the source, it is unclear where the assailants were aiming to planting the two 50 x 40 centimetre cylinders containing the explosive materials.
However, the bombs were purportedly then set off, by accident, in the vicinity of the police station.
Police forces deployed to the scene cordoned off the area surrounding the blast site, while ambulances moved the victims to 6th of October City’s public hospital.
Security forces had been anticipating violence on a day that marks the second anniversary of the June 30 protests which led to the overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsi.
On Monday morning, the day before the June 30 anniversary, Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat was assassinated in a car bombing in east Cairo.
The bomb was reportedly planted on a road close to Barakat’s Heliopolis home and detonated as he made his way in to work. The explosion damaged 35 cars in the area, as well as the entrances of nine shops and one home.
The unprecedented attack left analysts concerned about the potential for more escalation in the ongoing battle between the state and emerging militant groups.