Egypt police officer shot dead by gunmen in attack

A police officer in Egypt's Nile Delta province of Sharqiya was shot dead by unknown gunmen on early Saturday morning, state-run Ahram website reported. Security sources were quoted as saying that several militants opened fire on the policeman who was on his way home after finishing work shift. Also a passerby was wounded in the attack. Violence and militant attacks targeting security forces and their installations have escalated across Egypt after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last July, killing hundreds of soldiers and policemen, especially in the lawless northern Sinai Peninsula. But in recent months, militant assaults have been creeping into the capital and other Nile Delta cities. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, however, a Sinai-based Jihadist group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, closely related to al-Qaida, and another Jihadist movement Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, had claimed responsibilities for most of the attacks. source: XINHUA