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Drive-by shooting kills 3 riot police in Cairo

As riot police tried to quell the demonstration, three gunmen in a speeding car opened fire from behind the policemen, killing three and wounding nine, then fled from the scene, the ministry said.

Gunmen in a drive-by shooting killed three Egyptian policemen and wounded nine during an overnight rally by students in the capital, Cairo, authorities said Tuesday.

The attack raises security concerns ahead of presidential elections next week, a vote that the country’s retired army chief, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, is widely expected to win. El Sisi led the military when it ousted the President Mursi last July.

The Interior Ministry said about 250 students took to the streets late on Monday night to show their support for Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group.

As riot police tried to quell the demonstration, three gunmen in a speeding car opened fire from behind the policemen, killing three and wounding nine, then fled from the scene, the ministry said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but two Al Qaeda-inspired groups, one based in Sinai, have carried out scores of similar attacks on military and police targets in recent months.

Meanwhile, the state MENA news agency said suspected militants blew up a natural gas pipeline in the restive Sinai Peninsula late on Monday.

The report said the explosion, which took place south of the provincial capital of El Arish, sparked a fire but that all valves were immediately closed to stop the flow of gas. The pipeline carries natural gas to an industrial area in central Sinai and also to Jordan.