Three Egyptian police killed in Sinai

Cairo - Gunmen shot dead on Wednesday three Egyptian policemen in the Sinai Peninsula, where militants regularly launch attacks on security forces, the interior ministry said.

The three policemen, including a colonel, were travelling in a pick-up truck in North Sinai's provincial capital El-Arish when assailants in a car shot at them and fled, the ministry said in a statement.

The attack came several days after two policemen were killed in a roadside bombing at the entrance to the town.

Egypt's military is battling an Islamist insurgency in the peninsula that has left scores of policemen and soldiers dead since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year and cracked down on his supporters.

The government declared a state of emergency in parts of North Sinai after a 24 October suicide attack near El-Arish killed at least 30 soldiers in the deadliest assault on security forces since Morsi's ousting.

Militant groups claim their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown targeting Islamists that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.