Four policemen killed in drive-by shooting near Saqqara

Two police officers and two conscripts were shot Saturday by masked gunmen on a motorcycle in Giza, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry.

The gunmen targeted a police car affiliated with the Giza Security Directorate near the Aboul Nomros police station on the Saqqara Road, which is a tourist area near the Great Pyramids. 

The car was parked by a tourism police checkpoint when a motorcycle approached from the wrong direction. One of the gunmen shot at the policemen and the others collected their weapons, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported, adding that each of the policemen was shot eight or nine times.

The gunmen also fired shots into the air to scare passersby, according to Al-Ahram.

This comes days after an attack on a hotel in Arish on Tuesday that killed seven people, including two judges, four policemen and one civilian, amid the second phase of Egypt's parliamentary elections. The Islamic-state affiliated Province of Sinai claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Security forces have been incresingly targeted in armed attacks since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and the government's crackdown on the banned group’s members and supporters.