12 suspected militants killed by Egyptian security forces after bus bombing

Egypt says that security forces killed 12 members of a militant group with suspected links to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in shootouts in Cairo, just hours after a roadside bomb struck a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids, wounding at least 17.

A rudimentary device containing nails and pieces of metal detonated on the perimeter of the Grand Egyptian Museum near a bus carrying 25 South African tourists from the airport to the pyramids district.

The Interior Ministry did not say whether the suspected militants were connected to Sunday’s attack, but said its forces killed the suspects during raids on their hideouts in the 6th of October and Al Shorouk districts, where it said members of the militant group Hasm were planning a series of attacks in the country to create an “atmosphere of chaos.”

Egypt accuses the group, which emerged in 2016 and has claimed several attacks, of being a wing of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement denies this and says it seeks change through peaceful means only.

The Interior Ministry says that seven of the militants were killed in a firefight when police raided their hideout in the Sixth of October suburb. The remaining five were shot and killed after opening fire on police, who stormed their residences in Cairo’s Shorouk suburb.

The ministry says explosive devices, weapons, and ammunition were found in the militants’ possession. It says that the militants belonged to Hasm, an armed faction of the Brotherhood.

Sunday’s roadside bomb wounded at least 17 people including South African tourists.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.