International
0

Bombs Target Egypt Courthouses

Bombs Target Egypt Courthouses
Bombs Target Egypt Courthouses

Egyptian security officials said bombs targeted courthouses in two cities, killing two people and injuring several others in what could be  a response to the sentencing to death of the ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the day before.

Officials said one bomb targeted the main courthouse in the southern city of Assiut late Saturday, killing two and wounding nine, including seven policemen.

Early Sunday, a small girl was injured when a bomb went off near a courthouse in Port Said, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, AP said in a report.

The attacks came after militants gunned down three judges in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, just hours after a Cairo court sentenced Morsi to death over his alleged role in a mass prison break in 2011.

An Egyptian prison official also said that six men sentenced to death by a military court were executed on Sunday.

The six men executed were convicted of killing two military officers in an hour-long battle with police, military and special forces during a raid on a suspected bomb factory north of Cairo in March 2014.

Judicial officials said they were also convicted of belonging to the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Amnesty International had called for a retrial in a civilian court, saying "at least three of the men were held in secret at the time of the crime they have been sentenced for."

 

Financialtribune.com