A police general was killed and several others injured when three bombs exploded outside Cairo University on Wednesday, the Telegraph reported.
While the first two bombs were planted outside the university's engineering faculty, the third one was placed outside the main gates of the University.
Brigadier General Tarek al-Mergawi was killed when the two bombs detonated in quick succession. Although the third bomb exploded where police investigators and journalists had gathered, no casualties were reported to have occurred.
"After the bombing, police chased and detained several students on the streets nearby. There was no immediate confirmation on the number of arrests," the Telegraph reported. "A police general at the scene told AFP that a tree, between two small police posts, was used to conceal the two initial explosives. Egyptian state TV said that the bombs were home made."
A fourth bomb, discovered in a parked car close to the university, was defused immediately, security officials and state television reported.
"The bombings were the latest in a campaign of attacks targeting Egypt's police and military that began with the ousting last summer of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi," the Telegraph reported. "Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that Major General Abdel Raouf al-Serafi, an assistant interior minister, was among the wounded."
Hearing the blasts, Amr Adel, a student at the University, was escaping when he came across "... a lifeless man in plain clothes and a policeman bleeding from his leg".
As the May presidential elections, the second in less than two years, approach, increasing violence and mayhem is already being anticipated, the Telegraph reported.
"We expect trouble for the long term. How can the police protect us when they can't even protect themselves? It is not possible," remarked student Mohamed Abdel Aziz outside of Cairo University today.
