Unidentified gunmen have killed three policemen and injured five others in a drive-by shooting in Cairo late on Monday, Reuters reports.
The interior ministry stated that “armed elements riding in two vehicles approached a moving security convoy.”
Previously, it was thought that the attack was on a police unit stationed at an intersection of the ring road, but updated reports from AFP state that the attacked police convoy was crossing a roundabout when it fell under fire.
Police are then believed to have returned fire at the attackers’ vehicles, which police are currently pursuing to “apprehend the perpetrators,” the ministry said.
Attacks on security forces are considered common in Egypt’s North Sinai province. The country is currently battling an insurgency by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group, but targeted assaults in Cairo are rare and the shooting comes amid a campaign by militants to spread violence throughout the country.
No group has officially claimed responsibility of the attack.
Hundreds of soldiers and policemen have fallen victim to the insurgency since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Following the deadly church bombings last month, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency on April 10.
IS claimed responsibility for the church bombings in Tanta and Alexandria on April 9 that killed 45 people.
The military has killed several of the group’s top leaders, but the extremists have increasingly expanded their attacks from Sinai to other parts of Egypt, including Cairo.
