Unknown assailants open fire on the acting head of Zagazig University Abdel Hakim Nour El-Din in Egypt's Sharqiya governorate leaving him with leg wounds, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The head of the security directorate reported that three assailants targeted the university official and opened fire on him while he was leaving his house and then escaped. 

Nour El-Din was immediately transferred to the nearest hospital. A medical source stressed that his condition is stable. 

It is not clear yet whether the incident is criminal or terrorism related. 

Assassination attempts are not common in Egypt.

However, in June 2015, Egypt’s top prosecutor Hisham Barakat was assassinated after sustaining injuries from a car bomb targeting his convoy while he was travelling to work in Cairo’s Heliopolis district. It was the first successful assassination attempt against a high ranking state official since an increase of violence following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.