Bomb defused at hospital in Egypt’s Sharqiya

Egyptian explosives experts defused a bomb Thursday reportedly planted at a hospital in Sharqiya governorate, northeast of Cairo.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Sharqiya governorate security authorities had received a report that a suspicious object was found at Belbeis General Hospital, in the city of Belbeis. Experts and police moved to the site to investigate.

They dismantled a bomb at the location, Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Attacks on police and army personnel, especially at security-related sites, including those guarding positions near civilian institutions, have been recurrent since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in summer 2013.

It was not immediately clear whether the bomb at Belbeis Hospital targeted police guards or not.

The army has killed and arrested hundreds of “terror” suspects in return. Civilians, too, have often fallen victim during attacks.

Belbeis is one of Sharqiya’s largest towns with an estimated population of 130,000. Sharqiya itself is one of Egypt’s most populous governorates with an estimate of 6.3 million inhabitants, according to a January 2014 government report.

On Sunday, two small bombs detonated in Zagazig City, also in Sharqiya, near two different churches, but left no deaths or injuries.

Source: Ahram Online