(AFP PHOTO/MAHMOUD KHALED)
Two policemen were injured in a shooting on Sunday with unknown assailants in the Mohandessin district of Giza, the Ministry of Interior’s press office said.
However, militant group “Popular Resistance in Giza” claimed responsibility for the attack and said, via their Facebook page, that a policeman was killed and that the militants managed to escape.
Furthermore, Aswat Masriya reported on basis of a security source, that one of assailants was killed in an exchange of fire that broke out when policemen approached the site of an explosion near the police station in Gamet El-Dowel Street.
The interior ministry refused to give further details awaiting investigations, and only confirmed that two policemen were taken to hospital with minor injuries before being discharged and that the attackers used birdshot firearms.
On 27 December, a similar attack took place in Mohandessin as two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on policemen guarding the HSBC and Union National Bank branches in Sphinx Square.
“Popular Resistance” has been active since last year, and has posted pictures and video footage of usually masked men blocking main roads in Giza, Alexandria, and Cairo. The footage and pictures also show clashes with security personnel.
The group released a video earlier this week claiming responsibility for setting a police van on fire on the Ring Road in Cairo on Friday.
Drive-by shootings targeting police and army personnel have become relatively frequent in Egypt since the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in June 2013.
The vast majority of attacks took place in Sinai, though drive-by shootings have occurred throughout the country. In December, similar attacks killed three security personnel, two in Sinai, and one in Alexandria. In another incident on 21 December, a military officer was severely injured when militants on a motorbike fired multiple shots at him in El-Marg, north-east of Cairo.
