Two of the assailants who carried out the deadly attack on a military armed personnel carrier (APC) Friday morning in Egypt's Ismailia were captured by the armed forces, a military official told state news agency MENA, without identifying the suspects.

Two army conscripts were killed, and one conscript and one officer were injured – one of whom is in critical condition - in a drive-by shooting targeting a military APC on the highway connecting Cairo to the Suez Canal city of Ismailia.

The official told MENA that the army is combing villages near the shooting site to capture the rest of the assailants, whom he says fired at the APC with machine guns from two private cars carrying 8 attackers and drove off.

One conscript died on the scene, while the other succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

Military troops and helicopters were deployed to the scene.

Egypt has plunged into violent turmoil since a deadly security raid on two protest camps supporting deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi left more than 600 dead on 14 August.

Most armed attacks targeting security units are concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, close to Egypt's border with Gaza and Israel.  However, sporadic attacks have recently occurred in cities closer to the capital.

In August, a policeman was killed after gunmen exchanged fire with security forces at a freeway checkpoint in the Nile Delta's Sharqiya, north of Cairo.