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On Wednesday, a police brigadier general was killed by a bomb planted under his car; the attack is the fifth such targeted blast in Cairo this week. The attack, in the upscale suburb of 6th October City, killed commander of Egypt’s central security forces Ahmed Zaki, who spearheaded a crackdown on Morsi supporters.
Morsi supporters have launched several attacks, mostly targeting security forces after the ousting of Mohammed Morsi by the military last. Zaki was fatally injured as he was heading to work, security officials said, with two other conscripts were wounded in the explosion as well.
Video footage on several websites show the car’s front side completely destroyed in the explosion. Incidentally, the car was painted light green, unlike the usual dark blue colour for police cars in the country. Police officers in the country are increasingly repainting their cars to avoid being targeted by Morsi supporters.
Zaki is the third senior police officer to have been targeted and killed in Cairo this year. Three other policemen were killed in four other attacks this past week.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab attended Zaki’s funeral later in the day.
Meanwhile a police lieutenant was killed in the city of Alexandria in a gunfight with “terrorist elements”, security officials said, adding that a “terrorist” was killed and another one was wounded, with police retrieving two home-made bombs and an explosive-laden belt.
Egypt’s police force had been feared for decades, until it stirred public outrage over its deadly tactics and brutality during the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. It had rehabilitated itself in the eyes of the general public by pursuing Morsi supporters, thereby incurring the wrath of the militants. Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), a little-known jihadist group, has already claimed many of the attacks on police personnel in Cairo, and warned further retaliation if the police crackdown on Morsi backers continues.
