Gunmen kill Egyptian policeman in checkpoint attack

Latest incident comes amid Cairo’s ongoing crackdown on Islamic State insurgency and Muslim Brotherhood

CAIRO — Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a checkpoint in Egypt late Tuesday, killing a policeman and seriously wounding two others, security officials said.

The attack took place in an area called El-Badrasheen in southern Cairo where policemen have previously been targeted in similar attacks.

There were no immediate details about the assailants, who fled the scene.

Jihadists have regularly attacked security forces since the country’s then army chief and now president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, overthrew Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Jihadists say the attacks are in retaliation for a crackdown targeting Morsi’s supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.

An Egyptian man rides a camel in front of one the Giza pyramids in the southern Cairo Giza district on January 20, 2016. Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013, a deadly insurgency led by the Islamic State jihadist group has kept away millions of tourists. (CreditMOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP)

The Egyptian government has for years been battling an insurgency by Islamic militants in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula and recent attacks on security forces in the mainland.

Continued violence and recent attacks on tourists could further impact the tourism industry, already decimated in the aftermath of the Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 people on board.