Two policemen were shot dead on Thursday morning in Al Arish of North Sinai, Egypt’s interior ministry said.

Four masked gunmen approached the house where the two policemen were staying in the North Sinai provincial capital Al-Arish and opened fire on them, the ministry added in a statement.

Egypt has seen a spike in militant activity since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, with most of the attacks occurring in the North Sinai region bordering the Gaza Strip.

The violence has mainly targeted police and army personnel and at times has occurred in the capital Cairo and other places on the Egyptian mainland.