A policeman was killed on Monday morning at the hands of armed assailants and another was injured after an attack on a checkpoint in Gharbeya governorate. The 32-year-old officer killed was part of a security campaign to arrest outlaws, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement. Security forces became suspicious of a car parked at the side of the road. When they approached the vehicle, the people inside shot at them and fled the scene. Security forces immediately closed off the area and are combing it to find the perpetrators, state-run television said. A surge in attacks and bombings targeting security forces, whether police or military followed the ouster of former president and Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Two police officers were shot dead in northern Sinai by unidentified assailants on 25 July. While the rise in insurgency has for months been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula, it has now spread to other parts of the country. Attacks have reached Mansoura with a deadly bombing in December and Cairo with several deadly attacks on security buildings in January. There has also been a rise in drive-by shootings in recent months, with at least a dozen policemen in such shootings in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqeya alone. Last month, in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces, 22 border guards were killed in Al-Farafra checkpoint at the Egyptian-Libyan border. At least two militant groups, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and Ajnad Misr, have claimed responsibility for attacks in Sinai and Cairo, with the former claiming responsibility for an assassination attempt on Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim.
