Ajnad Misr claims Cairo University blast as part of anti-police campaign

Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), the Sinai-based militant group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s Cairo University bombing, released a statement via Twitter on Thursday morning linking the blast to its “Revenge for Life” anti-police campaign.

The group stated that it committed the bombing, which wounded 11 people, in retaliation against attacks perpetrated by security forces on university students.

Ajnad Misr went on to boast that the assailants successfully circumvented the heightened security presence on campus, which in itself was a response to the group’s bombings on April 2 that killed a brigadier general and injured five civilians.

Six police officers and five civilians were injured in Wednesday's incident, according to the Health Ministry. Officials said all injuries were minor.

Interior Ministry spokesperson General Hani Abdel claimed that the bombing targeted Cairo University students, not the police, in comments made to the privately owned Al-Watan newspaper. Abdel went on to say that Wednesday’s attack was only one in a series of planned bombings that had been foiled by security forces.

Wednesday’s blast site was reportedly near a security checkpoint where riot police were stationed outside the main gate of the campus, just a few meters away from the site of the deadly April bombing. Following the explosion, security forces sealed off most entrances and exits to the campus. No other explosive devices were reported to have been found.

However, the Students against the Coup, a student group affiliated with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, refuted the both Ajnad Misr’s and the Interior Ministry’s narratives. The students claimed in a Facebook post that security services themselves were behind the bombing.

The group also vowed to continue its "revolutionary movement” at universities across Egypt.

As with the triple bombing in early April, Wednesday’s blast came in the midst of systematic crackdowns by security forces on student protests nationwide. There is no evidence implicating student involvement in these detonations.

Local media reported on Wednesday night that authorities had arrested several students and other suspects for questioning in the incident, including four Indonesians and a woman wearing a niqab.

Since the academic year began on October 11, police forces have arrested at least 200 student protesters, while dozens of others have been injured. Omar Abdel Wahab, a student from Alexandria University, died on Tuesday from injuries sustained during clashes on campus in the first week of classes.

The start of the semester was marked by widespread unrest in response to the authorities’ decision to deploy guards from the private security firm Falcon at several public universities nationwide to screen and inspect students attempting to enter the campus.