Cairo: Two policemen were stabbed early Tuesday in the Egyptian capital and were taken to hospital, security sources said.
The attack took place in the medieval Cairo quarter of Al Gamaliya where a police force was on duty.
“The incident is criminal and has no terrorist motive,” a source said. “The injured policemen are in stable condition,” added the source.
The suspected assailant was arrested on the scene before he could escape, the Interior Ministry said. The 42-year-old man attacked the police force with a knife after they ordered him to stop because he had looked suspicious, the ministry added in a statement.
He was previously tried in absentia and sentenced to three years in prison in a separate criminal case, according to the statement. The suspect was identified as Amir Abdul Hamid, a resident in the city of Al Mahla, around 110 kilometres north of Cairo.
Egypt has experienced a spate of deadly militant attacks targeting security forces since the army’s 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous protests against his rule. The attacks were mainly mounted in North Sinai, believed to be a hotbed of militants linked to to terrorist Daesh group.
