The Ministry of Interior are ramping up security precautions to "thwart the schemes" of the "Muslim Brotherhood" after a series of bombings rocked Egypt in the past week. In a statement released on Friday, the ministry blamed the Muslim Brotherhood—classified by Egypt as a terrorist organisation—for "creating a state of chaos". The ministry said the Muslim Brotherhood did this by planting a series of low-tech explosive devices both in the Cairo area and other governorates. According to a spokesman for the ministry, around 150 explosive devices have been defused since last week, while others exploded causing casualties. The spokesman declined to describe how security measures would be increased. On Thursday evening, a bomb exploded on a train arriving at Sidi Gaber Station in Alexandria, injuring nine, according to Governor of Alexandria Tarek Mahdy. The ministry spokesman blamed the Alexandria train bombing, and others, on the Muslim Brotherhood as well. The statement also details the arrests of several groups accused of constructing, and attempting to plant explosive devices. On 3 July, the first anniversary of the ouster of the former Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi, a bomb exploded in the village of Kerdasa, west of Cairo, killing one and injuring another, while three separate explosions in Abasiyya and Imbaba killed one other. A series of bomb blasts killed two police officers and injured 13 others outside the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis on 30 June. Explosives experts Ahmed Amin Al-Ashmawy and Mohamed Lotfy were killed while attempting to defuse the bombs, the Ministry of Health said. Last Tuesday President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with Ibrahim and several other high-ranking security officials to address security challenge facing Egypt. Issues addressed at the meeting included police presence on college campuses, training security forces abroad and modernising training techniques. The meeting also covered terrorism and the observation of human rights protocols.
