Egyptian group claims blasts outside presidential palace that killed 2 police officers

CAIRO, Egypt – An Egyptian militant group has claimed responsibility for bomb blasts near the presidential palace that killed two senior police officers and wounded 10 other people.

Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, which has claimed previous attacks on police, said in a statement posted late Monday on militant websites that it set a trap for guards at Cairo’s Ittihadiya palace using new explosive devices that cannot be detected by ordinary equipment.

The group said its experts spent months studying police procedures for handling explosives in order to develop the bombs.

Egyptian militants have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces, since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi almost exactly one year ago.