Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim (Photo: Ahram)
Egypt's interior ministry has suspended a police officer for abandoning his 14-member check point in Beni Suef, targeted early Thursday by unknown assailants, pending investigation, Al-Ahram’s Arabic website reported.
Five Egyptian policemen were killed in a drive-by shooting on a checkpoint in Beni Suef Governorate around 200km south of Cairo on Thursday morning, Al-Ahram said.
Two policemen were also wounded in the attack that took place in Al-Wasta district, one of whom reported to be in a critical condition.
"Masked gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire heavily on the forces at the checkpoint," the interior ministry said in a statement.
Bombing and shooting attacks against security and army targets have become commonplace following the army's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July amid mass protests.
Security forces were stationed Thursday afternoon at key locations in the governorate, attempting to locate the attackers.
The governor of Beni Suef has announced compensation of LE5,000 for the families of the dead and LE2,000 for those injured.
The attack came two days before Egypt is set to mark the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution, raising fears of further violence.
A spate of violence in densely populated areas has raised fears that militant activity in the Sinai Peninsula, which has spiked since Morsi's removal, is spreading to other parts of the country.
In one of the deadliest attacks, a December bombing of a security headquarters the Nile Delta city of Mansoura killed 16 people, mostly policemen.
A bomb also exploded outside a Cairo court just before polls were to set to open in last week's constitutional referendum, leaving no casualties.
An Al-Qaeda-inspired group, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks in which scores of policemen and soldiers were killed. The group says the violence is in revenge for the killings and arrests of Islamists as part of a broad security crackdown.
The group also claimed a failed assassination attempt on the interior minister in Cairo in September.
Authorities have accused Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, designated a terrorist organisation, of links to the attacks – charges the movement has repeatedly denied.
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