Egypt military: Islamists targeted army bus

Egypt’s army blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for an attack on an army bus which killed one officer and injured three others in Cairo on Thursday, Reuters reported.

“Masked armed men belonging to the terrorist Brotherhood targeted a bus of the armed forces... which led to the martyrdom of the Warrant Officer Yusri Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan,” Reuters quoted the army spokesman as saying in a statement on Facebook.

Islamist militants are expanding their insurgency in Egypt where army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who overthrew Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July, is expected to announce he will run for president within days.

Egypt also accuses the Palestinian movement Hamas of having colluded with the Muslim Brotherhood in carrying out “terror attacks” on its territory in the past few years.

Egypt’s military said Wednesday it has destroyed 1,370 smuggling tunnels under its border with the Gaza Strip, as Cairo’s ties remain sour with Hamas that rules the Palestinian enclave.

Dozens of alleged Hamas militants have been named among scores of defendants, including Mursi, in trials for organizing jailbreaks and attacking police stations during the 2011 revolt that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Hamas has denied Egyptian accusations that it is involved in fighting in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

On March 4, an Egyptian court banned Hamas from operating in Egypt and ordered the seizure of its assets there.

The Brotherhood has also been designated as a “terrorist organization” by Egypt’s military-installed authorities.

(With Reuters and AFP)