News / Egypt

Gunmen kill 4 Egyptian security personnel south of Cairo

Saturday, 28 November 2015 1:24 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 28 November 2015 1:31 PM ]

Egyptian police inspect cars at a checkpoint in North Sinai, January 31, 2015. (AFP Photo)

Four Egyptian security personnel have been killed in a shooting attack on a police checkpoint south of the capital, Cairo.

Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire using machine guns at the checkpoint in the ancient burial ground of Saqqara, a security source said on Saturday.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement that the assailants were still at large and security forces were scanning the area of the attack in search of the gunmen.

The news of the shooting attack comes as Egyptian security forces and officials have been frequently targeted by militants based in the Sinai Peninsula.

The volatile region is regarded as a safe haven for the militants from the so-called Sinai Province Takfiri group.

In mid-November, Egyptian security forces killed 24 Sinai militants in an attack on their hideout in the central part of the region.

The Sinai Province militant group has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the region over the past months. The group has pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists currently operating against the governments in Syria and Iraq.