Cairo airport authorities tightened security after finding two bombs near the arrivals hall and a homemade explosive device exploded in the centre of the Egyptian capital on Tuesday, security officials said.

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The target of the blast near a busy square in downtown Cairo was not immediately clear. Two people were lightly wounded, security sources said.

“A relatively small homemade device was detonated not long ago in Talaat Harb Square, which is one of the key central squares in the middle of the city. It was detonated just on a side road off of that square,” FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Cairo, Tom Stevenson, reported.

"According to the Health Ministry there were no casualties, which gels well with what we know about the nature of the device. So it looks like something that has certainly caused a lot of fuss and a lot of fear, but hasn’t caused any deaths and certainly wouldn’t be bringing down a building,” Stevenson added.

The bombs at the airport were detected with electronic devices in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Airport security officials were reviewing video footage to try and determine who planted the bombs, security sources said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for either incident, according to Stevenson.

Islamist militants seeking to topple the government have carried out numerous bomb attacks on soldiers and police since the army toppled president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July of 2013.

Last week, Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks in the Sinai Peninsula which killed more than 30 security personnel.

Egypt has been trying to project an image of stability ahead of an investment conference in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in March that the government hopes will generate ventures worth billions of dollars.

The bulk of attacks on security forces have occurred in the Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, but the insurgency has spread to other parts of Egypt, a US ally.

Over the past year, police have frequently discovered homemade bombs planted near their vehicles and in public places in Cairo.

Political turmoil and militant violence after the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak have hammered tourism, a pillar of the economy.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Morsi and then launched a security crackdown on Islamists, says Egypt is fighting a long, hard war against terrorism.

The state makes no distinction between the Sinai-based militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and the Brotherhood, which says it is committed to peaceful activism.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

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