Two retired army officers and a police conscript were killed on Wednesday morning in a militant attack that targeted their checkpoint in al-Ayat, a town in the Giza governorate.
According to state-run newspaper Akhabr Al-Youm, a number of anonymous militants opened fire against the policemen from a vehicle.
The incident comes in the aftermath of a deadly attack on a police checkpoint in North Sinai’s city of Arish, in which a high-ranking police officer and two conscripts lost their lives.
Several residents from Arish told Egypt Independent on condition of anonymity that the attack took place on Tuesday afternoon when a number of militants, believed to be members of the IS-affiliated group of ‘Sinai Province’, opened fire against the policemen located at ‘al-Safa’ checkpoint.
In addition to the three casualties, ten police conscripts were injured and transferred to Arish Military Hospital.
“The attack resulted in the death of Colonel Tamer Shahin, who was the commander of a battalion at the Central Security Forces [CSF],”a witness claimed.
The Interior Ministry has not released any official statements on the two attacks, however the army official spokesperson mourned the killed officers and the conscript in a statement published through his official facebook page.
Police and army forces have been launching military operations against ‘Sinai Province’ group since 2014. The militant group believes that army and police forces are apostates and should be killed.
The forces managed to eliminate the former leader of ‘Sinai Province’ group, Abu Doaa al-Ansary, in a 2016 airstrike; however the group is still active in North Sinai.
Additionally, police forces based in Cairo and Delta governorates have been subjected to numerous attacks conducted by little–known groups such as ‘Lewaa al-Thawra’ and ‘Hasm’.
Both groups are believed to be affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
