Gunmen kill police officer in Egyptian town

Unidentified gunmen have reportedly opened fire on a traffic police vehicle in the Nile Delta town of Banha in Egypt, killing a police officer and injuring three more.

The gunmen targeted the police patrol in a drive-by shooting early Sunday, also damaging their vehicle, Egyptian state news agency, MENA, reported.

According to the report, authorities have launched an investigation into the fatal attack to identify the assailants.

The development followed growing incidents in which Egyptian security forces have come under armed attacks subsequent to the July 2013 ouster of the country’s first freely-elected president, Mohammad Morsi, in a military coup led by then army chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Since Morsi’s ouster, there has been a brutal crackdown on his supporters as well as the members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, with which he is affiliated.

Many of the serious attacks on Egyptian security forces have been claimed by a Sinai-based group called Soldiers of Egypt as well as an allegedly ISIL-linked group.

Meanwhile, local media outlets reported another armed attack on a police vehicle on Saturday on a road north of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Additionally, two bombs were detonated at a train station between Cairo and the city of Alexandria, causing major delays in the area’s rail traffic.

On Friday, two more bombs targeted Egyptian security forces in the capital, killing two police officers and injuring four civilian bystanders. Following the bombing attacks, fierce clashes ensued between security forces and suspected assailants.

MFB/HJL/SS

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