Alwaght-A bomb explosion has rocked the northern Egyptian city of el-Mahalla el-Kubra, leaving two people dead and 16 others injured, as Press TV reported .
According to the Egyptian medical sources, the blast took place in front of a branch of an Emirati bank in el-Mahalla el-Kubra in Gharbia Province late on Friday night, claiming the lives of a policeman and a civilian .
Egypt’s Deputy Health Secretary Mohamed Sharshar said the 25-year-old policeman was transferred to a hospital following the attack, but later succumbed to his injuries .
Two of the bank employees were also injured in the explosion, reports said .
The textile city of Mahalla, 120 kilometers north of the capital, Cairo, is mostly known for its regular labor strikes. Some consider the Mahalla workers’ massive strike in 2008 as the precursor to the Egyptians’ uprising against long-serving dictator, Hosni Mubarak, in 2011 .
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the blast. However, such incidents are blamed on the militants who have intensified terrorist attacks across Egypt since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the country’s former president, in July 2013 .
Militants have been most active in the Sinai Peninsula, where they have frequently targeted and killed Egypt’s security forces .
The so-called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, an al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Sinai .
In late January, the group killed dozens of people and injured many others in a series of coordinated attacks in Sinai .
