Unknown assailants attacked early Sunday a security patrol on the Fayoum ring road, leaving no deaths or injuries, MENA reported.

The assailants escaped following an exchange of gunfire.

The Fayoum prosecution has received an official notice to open an investigation into the incident.

A similar incident took place on the Cairo-Fayoum highway Tuesday, triggering panic among drivers as armed men fired at a police checkpoint.

Armed attacks on police checkpoints and other security sites by anti-government Islamist militants have become common over the last two years. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed or injured in such attacks.

Tens of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi were reported protesting in Fayoum following a preliminary death sentence handed down to Morsi and 105 other defendants in the trial known as the Wadi Natroun jailbreak case. Security forces dispersed the protesters.