Three residential buildings in Giza were evacuated early on Friday after security forces received reports of explosives in the area and defused bombs in two nearby cars, security sources told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

The two cars were primed to explode by a road in the Faisal area, the sources said.

Major General Ahmed Aboul-Enein, an expert at the explosives department, said that the two devices had been connected using an electric heater.

Bombs and armed attacks on security personnel and sites have been common since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in summer 2013. Only some attacks have targeted civilians.