By Mohamed Shadi
CAIRO
A bomb blast near a courthouse in central Cairo late Tuesday has left 12 people wounded, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said.
An explosive device exploded near the High Court of Justice near the central Ramsis Square, eyewitnesses said.
In a statement, the ministry said that the explosion left 12 people with moderate injuries, noting that bomb disposal teams were deployed in the site to search for other possible bombs.
The downtown Cairo area is heavily packed with people on the streets at any time of the day.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Egyptian authorities usually point the finger at the Muslim Brotherhood, the decades-old group that propelled ousted president Mohamed Morsi to power in 2012.
Since Morsi's ouster by the army last summer, the military-backed authorities have cracked down on supporters of Morsi and his Brotherhood group, killing hundreds and throwing thousands behind bars on "violence"-related charges.
The Brotherhood was designated a "terrorist" movement late last year following a string of bombings targeting security facilities. The movement denied, however, any involvement in the attacks, reiterating that it is committed to peaceful activism.
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