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Police die in Egypt drive-by shooting

A drive-by shooting near a famed historical site south of Cairo has left four policemen dead, Egyptian officials said.

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The masked militants riding a motorcycle attacked the police checkpoint in the touristic area of Sakkara, a security source said.

The jihadist group said a “security detachment from the soldiers of the caliphate” targeted the checkpoint and killed at least four officers and wounded several others, according to U.S. monitors SITE Intelligence Group.

Attacks on security forces increased in Egypt after the army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. The group has pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorists now operating against the governments in Syria and Iraq.

In a separate incident, an Egyptian military helicopter crashed on Saturday due to a “sudden technical failure” in the Ismailia province, northeast of Cairo.

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The militant group claimed responsibility for the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Sinai last month, saying it smuggled a bomb on board the airliner.

The shooting occurred at a security checkpoint near Saqqara home to the 4,600-year-old Step Pyramid