Update: Two police officers killed on Thursday

Police officer Ahmed Radwan Abdel Gawad Ahmed was shot to death in front of an Ismailia police station late on Thursday, reported the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper.

The police officer reportedly exchanged gunfire with two unknown assailants in front of the station and was shot in the chest. One suspect was injured in the incident, while the other fled the scene, reported the independent daily news paper Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The officer died of his injuries while being transported to the hospital.

Earlier on Thursday, a police officer in the Central Security Division in Qalyubiya was killed during an operation to arrest the killers of a top National Security officer killed this week, according to a statement released by the Interior Ministry on Friday.

Captain Ahmed Samir was shot after a sharp exchange of gunfire with what the ministry described as “jihadi elements” suspected of involvement in the killing on Sunday of Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mabrouk on Sunday. Mabrouk was investigating a lawsuit of espionage against ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

The ministry also said that two of Samir’s killers have already been arrested.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdes, a Sinai-based jihadi group, declared responsibility on Tuesday for the killing of Mabrouk.

The group said in a statement shared on a number of jihadi websites that the killing of Mabrouk came in response to “the detention of the brave women” in reference to the protesters who were arrested earlier this month in Alexandria during demonstrations against Morsi’s ouster.

Samir’s funeral is expected to be held in the Police Mosque in Darassa Thursday afternoon.

Deaths among the ranks of police officers reached a peak following the forcible dispersal of two sit-ins calling for Morsi’s return in during which several hundred were killed on August 14. According to the latest reports released by the country's forensic department, the total number of casualties from the police ranks from the period August 14 to November 13 reached a total of 146, including 32 officers, 57 conscripts, 55 soldiers and two civil servants.