Assailants on a motorcycle fatally shot an Egyptian policeman and wounded another when they opened fire on their vehicle south of Cairo, security sources said. 

The attack took place Tuesday night in Abshway, a town in the governorate of Faiyum, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital. 

"Armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on the vehicle carrying Major Mahmud Abdel Alim, head of police detectives at Abshway, and a detective who accompanied him," one security source in the region told AFP. 

The detective, Yehia Abdel Satar, died later after suffering two bullet wounds to his chest, said another source. 

Major Abdel Alim was transferred to the police hospital in Cairo where he was in critical condition. 

There has been no claim of responsibility for the shooting. 

Attacks on security forces have escalated since the military's July 2013 ouster of Egypt's former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group, and a crackdown on Islamists. 

Analysts had warned that Islamists affiliated with the Brotherhood, though not necessarily under their control, could step up violence in the face of the crackdown.--AFP

Source:NNA