Egypt bombings end lull in militant violence

Anti-government militants renewed their offensive against the Egyptian security forces on Wednesday, killing one senior interior ministry official and a civilian and injuring at least seven others in bombings in central Cairo and an attack in the provinces.

Three bombs, thought to be activated by remote control, struck at midday near Cairo University, a site of unrest between the police and supporters of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi. The dead official, reportedly assigned to a guard post just outside the university campus, was Brigadier General Tariq Mirjawi, head of the investigations division for Giza province, which encompasses eastern Cairo, state media reported.

One of the explosions was so powerful it caused the partial collapse of a nearby building. Pictures taken in the aftermath of the attacks showed scorched vehicles atop a charred roadway littered with blackened debris and patches of blood.

Later, masked men on a motorcycle hurled a bomb at two policemen in the Abshaway district of Fayoum province, southeast of the capital. The policemen were injured but survived the attack, the official MENA news agency reported.

The violence follows a relative lull in the murky campaign of attacks that have killed 250 policemen and 187 soldiers since Mr Morsi's overthrow and the ensuing crackdown on his supporters. The former president's Muslim Brotherhood, among the oldest and largest political organisations in Egypt, has been declared a terrorist group by the military-backed interim government and hundreds of its members are facing trial.

The head of Cairo University vowed to continue with classes despite the bombings and called for tougher nationwide measures to halt violence.

"Dealing firmly with the lawless students, expelling them and denying them access to the campus, is not enough," Gaber Nassar, the university dean, said in a television interview. "There has to be an antiterrorism law."

Students Against the Coup, a group of Morsi sympathisers behind protests across Egypt campuses, condemned the bombing, blaming the interim government for failing to protect citizens.

"We deeply regret the loss of human life, and the terror such acts generate," the group said in a statement. "SAC holds the officials of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for the security vacuum that allows for such senseless violence to occur and strongly urges the authorities to launch an aggressive investigation into the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice."

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The violence is sure to arouse passions further in the continuing struggle between supporters of Mr Morsi and the new regime backed by the military. Last week, defence minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stepped down from his post to declare a presidential run.

Mr Sisi's opponents continue to hold rowdy and sometimes deadly campus protests, including at Cairo University, and have vowed to step up a campaign of civil disobedience. Security officials in February reinstated a suspended rule that allowed security officials to enter campuses.

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