Roundup: Policeman shot dead in Egypt's Cairo

A policeman was shot dead Tuesday evening as militants opened fire at security men of a wax museum in Helwan district in the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported.

"The security campaigns assigned with guarding the Wax Museum in Helwan were attacked by a vehicle with militants opening fire at them, which led to fire exchange before the militants ran away," MENA quoted a security source as saying, noting the confrontation resulted in the death of a non-commissioned policeman.

The evening attack comes a few hours after three militants were killed in a car blast as explosive devices detonated inside their vehicle around a police station at October Six district in Giza province near Cairo.

Meanwhile, a man was killed on Tuesday evening as a bomb went off while he attempted to plant it in front of a military facility in Helwan's Ma'sara neighborhood.

Similarly, an explosive device went off at the hand of a man who attempted to use it for an anti-security attack in Beni Sweif province some 120 km south of Cairo; the blast wounded the man's hand before he managed to run away and he is currently being pursued by the police.

Earlier in the day, at least three militants were killed and ten others were arrested during security raids in Arish and Sheikh Zuweid cities of Egypt's restive North Sinai, as security sources in the peninsula told Xinhua.

The extremists are believed to be loyalists of the Sinai-based, al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The bloody incidents came one day after the assassination of Egypt's Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat in a car bombing in Cairo, and they coincided with the second anniversary of June 30 mass protests that led to the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in mid-2013.

In response to the top prosecutor's murder, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi vowed during the man's funeral on Tuesday amendments of criminal procedure laws to make trials of arrested Islamists and suspect terrorist much faster, pledging retaliation for Barakat's death.

Terrorist activities mounted in Egypt since Morsi's ouster by the army in July 2013 and the following security crackdown on his loyalists that left over 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

On the other hand, hundreds of police and army personnel were killed in attacks carried out by extremists and self-proclaimed Islamists since Morsi's removal.

In its annual report released in late May, Egypt's National Council for Human Rights said that the violence since Morsi's removal has resulted in the death of 2,600 people, including 700 police and army men, 550 civilians and 1,250 Brotherhood members and supporters. Endit