An Egyptian police general has been killed and an assistant interior minister wounded in twin bombings targeting security posts near Cairo University.
The attack on Wednesday was the latest by militants targeting security forces following Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow in July.
The rudimentary bombs also wounded five policemen, the interior ministry said, identifying the slain officer as Brigadier General Tarek al-Mergawi.
A police general at the scene told AFP that the bombs were concealed in a tree between two small police posts.
"I was waiting for the bus when I heard two explosions. There was dust in the air and policemen were screaming," said a witness, Sakta Mostafa.
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A student in Cairo University said he ran out of the campus after hearing the explosions.
"I found a lifeless man in plain clothes and a policeman bleeding from his leg," said the student, Amr Adel.
Mergawi was a chief detective who would have been dressed in civilian clothes.
A third blast struck near police and journalists gathered outside Cairo University close to where an earlier twin bombing killed a police general, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.
The blast struck near the gates of the university in the centre of the Egyptian capital and close to a roundabout where the two bombs exploded close to police posts.
