Deadly bombings rock Cairo, 5 killed

CAIRO, Jan 24 (AFP): A suicide bomber struck Cairo police headquarters Friday, the first of three bombings in the Egyptian capital that killed five people ahead of the anniversary of the 2011 uprising.
The attacks came a day before police were to deploy across the capital for the third anniversary of the uprising that unseated Hosni Mubarak, with Islamists calling for mass protests against the new regime.
In the first attack, an assailant rammed a bomb-laden car into a metal fence surrounding the Cairo security directorate at around 6:15 am (0415 GMT), killing four people and wounding more than 70, police officials and the health ministry said.
The bombing damaged the nearby Museum of Islamic Art, bringing down ceilings and damaging a relic wooden prayer niche from the mediaeval Fatimid period, culture minister Mohamed Ibrahim told AFP.
Hours later, another bomb, a small makeshift device, was set off near a police vehicle close to a metro station, killing a police conscript, security officials said.
That was followed by a third outside a police station on a road leading to the Giza pyramids. It caused no casualties, the interior ministry said.
"They don't want the people to to celebrate," the January 25 anniversary, the interior minister, who is also named Mohamed Ibrahim, said of the assailants, adding he expected large crowds to take to the streets on Friday.
Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi had called for further protests from Friday against what they call the "military coup" that overthrew him in July.
"The National Pro-Legitimacy Alliance condemns the Cairo bomb and reaffirms commitment to peaceful struggle against coup," the pro-Morsi coalition wrote on Twitter.
The president's office vowed to "avenge our martyrs."
"Whoever planned, participated, financed, or incited (the attack) will be punished with the worst form of punishment," it said.
A witness to the police headquarters bombing said the booby trapped car had slammed into the metal fence surrounding the building.
"I was on the third floor, with the head of security," said the policeman, Mahmud Mushref, his head bandaged after he was injured in the blast.