CAIRO, May 8 (UPI) — Eight plainclothes police officers were shot dead Sunday in the outskirts of Egypt’s capital, officials said.
Four gunmen in a truck ambushed the police van with bullets from automatic weapons, the interior ministry said. They were conducting security checks in the Helwan district when they were attacked, the ministry said.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, claimed responsibility for the attack in retaliation for the imprisoning of women in “Egypt’s infidel prisons.” It described the attackers as a “security unit of the caliphate soldiers” and said they returned to their positions.
In a separate statement, the Popular Resistance Movement also claimed responsibility for Sunday’s killings. It said the attack commemorated 1,000 days since Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of protesters in August 2013 at Rabaa Square in Cairo.
Egyptian security forces have set up checkpoints and are searching for attackers.
It was the deadliest assault on Egyptian security since November, when gunmen killed four police officers at a security checkpoint. In that attack, Wilayat Sinai, the local IS branch, claimed responsibility.
