CAIRO - Four separate bombings rocked the Egyptian capital Friday on the eve of the third anniversary of the Arab Spring revolt, killing at least six people, injuring more than 70 and evoking comparisons to Baghdad in a city that for decades has been among the most stable in the Arab world.
The bombings appeared to mark the fruition of fears that the military ouster of Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood would set off a militant Islamist insurgency against the government installed by Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
No one claimed responsibility for the bombings. Some cynical neighbors near the scene of the first bombing suggested that it might have been staged by the government itself to build support for a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. But the bombings occurred just hours after an Islamist militant group that has claimed responsibility for many recent attacks, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, warned Egyptian security officers in a video message to “escape with your weapons” because “we will target you as we target your leaders.”
The bombs appeared to trigger spontaneous outpourings of support for el-Sissi, who led the ouster of Morsi last summer.
El-Sissi is now poised to run unopposed in an election to succeed him, campaigning as the strong leader Egypt needs to battle what he calls the Brotherhood’s “terrorism.”
Less than three hours after the first and largest blast, around dawn outside a security headquarters in the historic district known as Islamic Cairo, the scene outside the police barricades had turned into an impromptu political rally. A crowd of more than 200 people was demonstrating in support of el-Sissi and against the Brotherhood.
“The people want the execution of the Brotherhood,” they chanted, waving Egyptian flags and holding signs depicting a profile of el-Sissi in dark sunglasses against the profile of a lion, or, in other posters, of a hawk.
