Four Egyptian police officers killed near Cairo

A DRIVE-BY shooting killed four Egyptian police officers near a historic site on the outskirts of Cairo on Saturday, and a military helicopter crashed as a result of a “sudden technical failure” northeast of the capital, officials said.

Masked gunmen on a motorcycle fired on a security checkpoint near Saqqara, said a police official, Maj.-Gen. Khaled Shalaby. The area is the site of the 4,600-year-old Step Pyramid. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The helicopter that crashed was on a reconnaissance mission northeast of Cairo in Ismailia Province, the military said in a statement. It said crew-members were injured, without specifying the number hurt or the severity of the injuries.

Egypt has been battling a growing insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group, which has mainly attacked soldiers and police officers there, but has also claimed attacks elsewhere in Egypt.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Sinai last month, saying it had smuggled a bomb aboard the airliner. Russia said the plane was downed by a bomb and suspended flights to Egypt.