Blast strikes near Cairo foreign ministry

At least two police officers were killed and five additional policemen injured on Sunday in blast in downtown Cairo, health officials said. The security sources said the bomb exploded on a footpath under the 26 July Bridge in the neighborhood of Boulaq Abu Eila.

Ahmed al-Ansari, the chief of ambulance service in Cairo, told reporters that some of the injured were in serious condition.

Earlier reports said at least two policemen had been killed, but the official death toll was later revised to one, AFP news agency reported.

State television said the bomb had been planted under a tree, according to news agency DPA. Earlier, security officials had said in a statement had attributed the blast to a car bomb.

Security officials, requesting anonymity, said the bomb was planted near the back entrance of the ministry building and its target was a police checkpoint.

Television channels aired the footage from the scene of the blast that brought a tree down onto a nearby car.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Turmoil has gripped Cairo since President Mohammad Morsi's ouster last July, sparking violence between his supporters - some of which belong to the Muslim Brotherhood - and security forces.

jng/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)