CAIRO — An Al-Qaeda-inspired militant group in Egypt has claimed responsibility for this week's assassination of a senior police officer in Cairo and a pipeline explosion in the volatile Sinai Peninsula. Meanwhile, Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said two planted explosive devices detonated on Friday as a troop carrier drove by with riot police near the Cairo suburb of Giza. One officer was wounded in the attack, which also damaged the front window of the vehicle, said Abdel-Latif. In two separate statements posted late Thursday, the Sinai militant group known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem, said it killed Maj. Gen. Mohammed El-Said and vowed more attacks against security forces. El-Said was shot to death as he left his home in the Haram district of Giza, a neighborhood near the Pyramids, on Tuesday. He was an aide to the interior minister and head of the technical office in ministry, which is in charge of police. – AP
