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Blasts Kill 1, Wound 9 in Egypt's Alexandria


A series of bombs exploded Sunday, killing one and wounding nine others in Egypt's second city of Alexandria, security and medical sources said.

One person was killed and five were wounded in the first blast, outside of a supermarket in the Seyouf district of eastern Alexandria, Magdy Hegazy, undersecretary at the health ministry said.

A bomb outside of Harambe police station in central Alexandria wounded four, while another near the police station was disarmed by security forces, security sources said.

A fourth bomb went off near the Bab Sharq police station without injuring or killing anyone, Hegazy said.

The blasts are the latest in a bombing campaign blamed on Islamic militants who are targeting foreign and local economic and financial establishments.

The campaign seems designed to undermine confidence in Egypt ahead of a major, three-day economic conference scheduled to open Friday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Egypt plans to announce projects worth up to $35 billion during the conference, The Associated Press reported.

On Saturday, a bomb exploded in front of the branch of a major Emirati bank in a Nile Delta town north of the capital, Cairo. The blast killed a policeman and a civilian and wounded 16 others.

Egypt said hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed, in what Cairo calls revenge attacks, since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule.

Most militant attacks take place in the remote but strategic Sinai Peninsula, but attacks in cities, particularly near police stations, have also increased.

Amnesty International said that since Morsi's ouster, a brutal crackdown on his supporters has killed more than 1,400 people, while thousands more have been jailed.

Material for this report came from Reuters, AP and AFP.

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