Two policemen killed, 24 injured in Egypt bombing

Two Egyptian policemen were killed and 24 injured on Monday when a bomb struck their vehicle north of Cairo, the latest in a series of attacks against the country’s security forces being targeted by Islamic State terror group.

The blast hit the bus carrying the policemen to work posts in a village in the northern Nile Delta province of <g data-gr-id="18">Baheira</g>, some 160 kilometres north of Cairo, Interior Ministry said.

“Two policemen were killed and 24 others were wounded, including two seriously,” a health ministry spokesman said. The security forces have launched a manhunt to nab the attackers.

Egypt has been battling an increasing Islamist insurgency since the 2013 ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president. He had taken over the office following the 2011 overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The insurgency, mainly backed by Egypt’s IS affiliate – Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis –which has often attacked the security forces, mostly centred on the Sinai Peninsula, But, of late, it has spread to other parts of the country.

On Thursday, 29 people, including six policemen, died in a car bomb triggered by the IS targeting a police building in Cairo.