Explosives found in Cairo fuel terror fears

Widespread fears of terrorist attacks in Egypt were fueled on Thursday morning when local press reported a number of attempted explosions in Cairo.

One explosion was reported near the Egyptian Natural Gas Company, according to the state-run daily Al-Ahram. Security guards claimed that six masked gunmen kidnapped them and took them to a nearby deserted area. As some of the assailants stood watch of the guards, others entered the company and left an explosive device there. The guards said moments after the attackers left, they witnessed an explosion inside the building.

Al-Ahram reported the guards managed to free themselves and call the police. The incident caused damage to the building, but no casualties were reported.

The privately owned daily paper Al-Shorouk reported on another attack that allegedly occurred Thursday morning in the communication control room of a Giza gas factory. Company chairman Ashraf Zaki told Al-Shorouk that unidentified assailants brought the explosive device into the building, and when it exploded it destroyed the communication control room.

Security forces have already identified one of the assailants, reported the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm, claiming he was a fugitive from Kerdasa.

State security forces recently waged an intensive security operation in Kerdasa following a deadly attack on a police station there in mid-August, in retaliation against the brutal dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo on August 14.

Al-Masry Al-Youm also reported that an explosive device was found near a military vehicle on Orabi Street in Mohandiseen on Thursday morning. Experts diffused the device before it was able to detonate, while security forces temporarily blocked traffic on the busy street.