CAIRO — Two Egyptian policemen were killed on Monday, June 30, trying to defuse bombs planted near Cairo’s presidential palace by militants days before the anniversary of the army overthrow of an elected Islamist president.

Islamist fundamentalists have repeatedly attacked police and soldiers with bombings and shootings since the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, on July 3, 2013. The Brotherhood denies any link to the violence.

The violence was met by a crackdown on Islamist politicians, activists and street protesters of whom thousands were jailed and hundreds were killed.

The militant group Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, claimed responsibility for the blasts in a statement dated Monday.

“God had helped us to make our plan succeed in dragging the security officials to the trap made for them at Itahadiya (presidential) palace,” it said on its Twitter account.

“Our targeting of the fortress of their slaughterer shows how easy of a target he, his headquarters and personnel are and that such regime could fall,” it said.

Ajnad Misr said last week it had planted several bombs near the presidential palace to target security forces before realizing that civilians could be in danger. It said it has been unable to remove the devices and urged passersby to be cautious.

A suspected Islamic militant died Thursday when a homemade bomb he was handling went off in a village near Cairo, security officials said, as the first anniversary of the ouster of Morsi saw a series of small bombings across the country that did not kill or injure anyone.

They said the blast in Kirdasah, an Islamist bastion just west of Cairo, wounded another man. In separate incidents, a small bomb went off near an air force hospital in Cairo, and bombs targeted a police station and a railway station in the southern city of Assiut, which has a large Islamist presence.

No one was wounded in the three attacks, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Police dispersed pro-Morsi protests around Cairo on Thursday.