Three police officers were killed over the weekend in two separate attacks on security forces, one that led to the death of a police officer and conscript, and a second that killed one police officer and injured another.
Major Mohamed Gamal El-Din was killed Friday night by a bomb attack in Lebanon Square, Giza. The bomb that killed El-Din was dropped from an overpass by suspects who immediately fled the scene on a motorcycle.
One police officer and a conscript were shot dead noontime Sunday when they pulled over a suspicious car on the Suez Desert Road. The passengers in the vehicle opened fire on Captain Ashraf Kazaz and conscript Alaa Farahat, killing both of them, according to a Ministry of Interior statement.
The statement added that the search for the suspects in the Suez shooting is underway.
The cabinet released a statement Saturday in which Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb expressed his “sincere sadness and deep sorrow for the martyrs of the homeland,” who “gave their lives in the battle of dignity waged by Egypt against the forces of terrorism.”
Mehleb also stressed that “the state is vigilant, ready, and determined to take all necessary actions to stop the criminal acts carried out by the forces of terror against the nation and its citizens,” while interim authorities move forward with the post 3-July roadmap to “achieve the hopes and aspirations of the great Egyptian people.”
At least 500 security personnel have been killed since the 2011 uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.
Attacks have been on the increase Mohamed Morsi’s ouster on 3-July. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a Qaeda-inspired militant group, has staged frequent attacks in the Sinai Peninsula as well as in the Nile Delta and Cairo.
Agnad Misr, another militant group which seems to function exclusively in Cairo and Giza, has a claimed a number of attacks recently, most recently bombing that injured a traffic officer and a conscript in Galaa Square in Dokki on 15 April.
One of the suspects was caught after the 15 April attack, with the Ministry of Interior promising judicial action.
