(AFP File Photo)
Armed gunmen attacked a police officer early Saturday morning in Al-Arish, killing the two men accompanying him but leaving the officer unharmed.
The attack took place outside the officer’s home while he was getting in his car to go to work, said state-run MENA.
MENA also reported that another shootout occurred Saturday in the restive North Sinai city, although no one was injured.
Attacks against security forces have become common in the underdeveloped and troubled Sinai Peninsula since Mohamed Morsi’s 3 July ouster.
March saw a number of deadly attacks against security forces in the area, with four Ministry of Interior conscripts shot dead in Sheikh Zuweid. Another policemen was shot and killed in Al-Arish.
A bombing injured a police officer that month.
A natural gas pipeline that supplies cement manufacturing plants south of Al-Arish has been bombed 23 times since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011.
The Sinai Peninsula is home to the largest militant organisation functioning in Egypt. Fighters take advantage of the isolation and lawlessness to train and stage attacks against both police and army forces.
