REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO -- At least 13 policemen and three civilians were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police training centre in the Nile Delta city of Tanta on Saturday in an attack claimed by a militant Islamist group.

The bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked near the centre, which was cordoned off following the blast as security forces combed the scene, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Two of the wounded are in a critical condition, a health ministry spokesman said.

A newly emerged militant group that calls itself Louwaa el Thawra, or the Revolution Brigade, claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter.

"A training centre for the police militias has been targeted in Gharbia province with a highly explosive device ... our fighters withdrew safely after completing the mission," the group's statement said without giving further details.

"Revenge.. Revenge is a right," the militant group said on Twitter about an hour before the claim of responsibility.

Revolution Brigade has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including the assassination of a senior Egyptian military official who was shot as he left his home on the outskirts of Cairo.

Egypt faces an Islamist insurgency led by Islamic State's branch in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed. There have also been attacks in Cairo and other cities.

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