Has IS reached the heart of Cairo?
A May 8 attack that killed eight policemen in southern Cairo has sparked fears that the terror group has reached the city's capital, but questions remain about the culprits.
On May 8, eight Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack by masked gunmen who opened fire on them in the Helwan district of southern Cairo.
In a statement published on its official Facebook page the same day, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said that the policemen had been on a mission at the time of their death. Dressed in civilian clothes, they took the microbus. A truck intercepted them as they were moving along the Nile Corniche area. Four unidentified men who were hiding in the truck stepped down from the vehicle, opened fire on the policemen and fled.
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter accounts affiliated with the group, in what the group described as an act of vengeance for “pure and honorable women prisoners” held by Egypt.
One eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor that she heard heavy gunshots and peeked from her nearby house balcony to see gunmen with machine guns shooting at people in a microbus then fleeing in a truck with the flag of IS on its front.
