Bombing kills two in Egypt’s Alexandria, targets security chief

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Egyptians walk past blood stains in a street near a church in Alexandria after a bomb blast struck worshippers gathering to celebrate Palm Sunday on April 9, 2017. The Interior ministry said Coptic Pope Tawadros II was inside the church leading a Palm Sunday service when the suicide bomber was stopped by police outside and blew himself up. A church official said Tawadros had already left the church when the bombing took place. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER

A bomb placed under a car exploded in Egypt’s second city Alexandria on Saturday, killing two people including a policeman, state news agency MENA reported.

The bombing, which also wounded four policemen, had targeted Alexandria’s security chief police Major General Mostafa al-Nemr, the interior ministry said.

MENA quoted Nemr as saying that two people, a policeman and a driver, were killed in the blast.

Photos on social media that Reuters could not independently verify showed a burnt out car and smoke at the site of the blast.

“On Saturday March 24 an explosive device planted underneath a car exploded . . . as the Alexandria security chief drove by,” the interior ministry statement said.

Eyewitnesses said police and military personnel had formed a perimeter around the site of the explosion, which took place two days before the country is due to hold a presidential election.