Gunmen kill 2 policemen in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai

Egyptian officials say three gunmen in a speeding car have shot and killed two policemen in the restive northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

They say the gunmen opened fire Wednesday on the police, who had been guarding a post office, with automatic weapons before speeding away and escaping.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists. Reporting in the area is highly restricted.

The attack was the latest in a yearslong battle for the lawless area between government forces and assorted opponents, the most formidable of which is a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The long-running conflict in the neglected north Sinai intensified following the army’s 2013 overthrow of the country’s first freely elected president, the divisive Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

source:AP