File Photo: A huge hole in front of the Egyptian police headquarters after a bomb exploded - Cairo, 24 January 2014. A string of four bombings struck Greater Cairo on the same day, killing at least six people and injuring dozens of others (Photo: Mai Shaheen)
In July 2013, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, then defence minister, called on Egyptians to take to the streets to give him a mandate to "confront terrorism," only a few weeks after the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi after mass protests against his one-year rule. The mandate was followed by multiple attacks that were no longer limited to the Sinai Peninsula.
A military campaign against militants – dubbed Operation Eagle – has been ongoing in Sinai since August 2011. Clashes between the army and jihadist groups in Sinai have continued, as have attacks in other cities including the capital Cairo.
Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based jihadist group, has claimed responsibility for major attacks in Sinai and around Egypt since Morsi's ouster – but a number of other Islamist militants groups are also active in Egypt.
14 August 2013: Armed Islamist militants fire RPGs at Kerdasa's police station in Giza, killing 11 officers. The incident came on the day security forces dispersed pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo, killing over 500 and injuring more than 3,700. Over 40 policemen were killed and around 210 were injured during the dispersal.
Police officers stand in front of a damaged police station in the village of Kerdasa, a town 14 km (9 miles) from Cairo September 19, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
5 September: Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survives an assassination attempt in Cairo's Nasr City when a remote-controlled bomb blows up his motorcade, injuring 22.
A general view shows policemen investigating next to burnt cars at the site of a bomb attack and assassination attempt near the house of Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in the Nasr City district of Cairo September 5, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
17 November: A high-ranking national security officer, Mohamed Mabrouk, is shot dead near his home in Nasr City. He was involved in investigations regarding Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist groups. Ansar Beit At-Maqdis claims the killing a few days later.
24 January 2014: Four bombs targeting police kill six people and injure dozens. The bombs hit Cairo's central police headquarters, a police unit stationed near a metro station in Giza’s Dokki district, a police station in Giza's Al-Talbiya district and another near a government building in Giza's Haram district.
An Egyptian firefighter checks a crater made due to a blast at the Egyptian police headquarters in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 24, 2014 (Photo: AP)
The Museum of Islamic Art, across the street from the central police headquarters, suffers extensive damage as a result of the explosion.
Police officers and people gather in front of the damaged Museum of Islamic Art building, after a bomb blast occurred at the nearby Cairo Security Directorate, which includes police and state security, in downtown Cairo, January 24, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
28 January: General Mohamed Said, an aid to the interior minister, is shot dead near his home in Giza's Haram district by unknown assailants riding a motorcycle.
Friends and relatives of General Mohamed Saeed, head of the technical office of the minister of interior, react during his funeral service in Cairo January 28, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
2 April: Three explosions kill a policeman and leave at least five injured in three explosions at Cairo University.
Security forces stand guard at the site outside Cairo University following a blast that killed a Brigadier-general and injured five police officers, Giza, Egypt, April 2, 2014 (Photo: Mai Shaheen)
2 May: A car explosion in downtown Cairo kills one civilian, on the same day three explosions kill four people in Sinai.
An Egyptian security official inspects a site hit by a bomb attack targeting a traffic security post near a court house in Heliopolis district in Cairo May 2, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
25 June: Four small bombs hit four metro stations Cairo, injuring at least six people, and two other bombs blow up near a Cairo courthouse in Heliopolis.
28 June: An explosion in 6 October kills one girl and injures her parents, a result of a bomb planted in a call centre under construction.
30 June: A series of explosions near the presidential palace in Heliopolis kills two police officers and injures three. The Islamist militant group Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) had earlier announced it placed bombs in the area.
Police and explosive investigators stand with detectors while they search for possible bombs in front of the presidential palace in Cairo June 30, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
30 July: A bomb-laden car explosion kills three suspected militants in Giza.
People gather at the site of a car bomb in Giza, Egypt, 30 July 2014 (Photo: Al-Ahram)
21 September: A bomb explosion near the foreign ministry in downtown Cairo kills two lieutenant colonels and injures at least five policeman and a civilian.
Forensic workers and policemen carry out investigations at the scene of a bomb blast in Cairo, September 21, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
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