ZAGAZIG, Egypt, Jan. 24 (UPI) — Militants killed three people, including two police officers, in an assault against a security checkpoint in Egypt’s Sharqia province on Sunday.
Police say the attackers rode motorcycles and opened fire on the checkpoint, located in the city of Faqous. Four civilians were injured in the attack, and a local farmer was killed.
The incident comes amid a rising level of militant attacks in recent weeks and among a general trend of extremist violence following the ouster of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
On Thursday, 10 people, including seven police officers and three civilians, were killed in an explosion during a raid by security forces on a suspected militant hideout in Giza.
A large amount of militant attacks have been focused against security forces battling Islamist militant groups — including an Islamic State affiliate — in the Sinai Peninsula. Last month, four Egyptian security personnel were killed when a roadside bomb detonated next to a passing armored vehicle in the border town of Rafah.
