Explosion hits bus in Cairo, wounds five

An explosion has hit a public bus in the Egyptian capital Cairo Thursday morning, wounding at least five people, security officials said.

The blast went off as the bus passed near near al-Azhar University in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Security officials said they were investigating whether the bomb had been placed on the bus or hurled by an assailant.

The victims received mild to moderate injuries, a health ministry official told Agence France-Presse.

The bus attack comes two days after a suicide car bomber killed 15 people, mostly policemen, in an attack on their headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks blamed on Islamic militants since the July military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi.

On Wednesday, the military-installed government declared Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood movement a terrorist group, and blamed it for the police headquarters bombing although a Qaeda-inspired group in the Sinai peninsula said it was responsible.

The Brotherhood, which organizes near daily protests demanding Mursi's reinstatement, insists it is peaceful and has condemned militant attacks.

The bombing in Cairo appears to be the first against civilian targets, although it could have exploded prematurely.

(With AFP and AP)