CAIRO, May 20 (UPI) -- Three paramilitary police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting in Cairo Tuesday, the Interior Ministry reported, a week before national elections will be held.
Nine others were injured in the incident on the campus of al-Azhar University, a scene of regular protests by supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. The police officers were involved in ending a student demonstration when the shootings occurred.
Attacks against police and the military have increased in Egypt since the July 2013 coup that removed Morsi and brought army commander and defense minister Abdul Fattah Sisi to power. Morsi and thousands of his supporters have been jailed.
Sisi, now a civilian, is expected to win the election. As voters go to polls Monday and Tuesday to elect a new president, Sisi is expected to win. Citing assassination attempts, his campaign is largely confined to television, where he is interviewed by hand-picked groups. His opponent, liberal politician Hamdeen Sabahi, has traveled the country to appear at rallies.
Since Morsi's removal, an insurgent movement in the Sinai Peninsula has grown in strength. Suspected Islamist militants exploded a gas pipeline near the town of Arish. No injuries were reported.
