CAIRO — ****** riding a motorcycle opened **** Friday on a security vehicle patrolling a Giza village near some of Egypt’s oldest pyramids, ******* five ******, the Interior Ministry and officials said.

The ****** ******** heightened fears of what has become near-weekly ******* by suspected Islamic militants after a ***** ****** left 23 troops **** in northern Sinai a week ago. Friday’s ****** comes amid a months-long state of ********* following a series of ****** ******** in the spring, and threatens to deal a blow to Egypt’s struggling tourism industry and economy.

The ****** took place in the village of Abusir in Badrashin, part of Greater Cairo, on a weekend in Egypt when there is little traffic in the streets. The slain policemen were part of the force tasked to guard the district of Saqqara, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist sites and host to a collection of temples, tombs and funerary complexes.

The Interior Ministry said the militants sprayed the policemen’s vehicle with machine-**** as the security force was on the move to patrol the surroundings. They fled after one policeman returned *******, the ministry said in a statement. Earlier, officials said that the ********* were masked and that they targeted a checkpoint.

********* stole the ******* and radios of the ******* and tried to set **** to the bodies but fled upon seeing people gathering nearby, witnesses said.

CBC Extra, a privately owned Egyptian TV network, said surveillance cameras in a gas station near the site of the ****** showed the ********* disguised in ****** uniforms and that they stopped the ****** vehicle before opening ****. It wasn’t immediately possible to confirm the network’s account.

Authorities cordoned off the area and ambulances rushed to the site of the ******, which is located near the famous Step Pyramid of King Djoser. It is the oldest of Egypt’s more than 90 pyramids and the forerunner of the more familiar straight-sided pyramids in Giza on the outskirts of Cairo.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but it carried the hallmarks of the Hasm group, which the government links to the now-outlawed ****** Brotherhood group, from which the ousted president hails.

The ****** comes a week after Islamic militants ****** 23 army personnel in a remote checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has been under a state of ********* since April after ******* bombers struck two churches north of Cairo, ******* scores of Christians.

Egypt has been rocked with ****** ******* ******** and drive-by ********* since the 2013 military ouster of an elected Islamist president. The ******** has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, but ******* have spread to the mainland, including in the capital where ******* bombers have struck churches and security headquarters.

An Islamic State group affiliate has claimed responsibility for major *******. However, a smaller group called Hasm, or “Decisiveness,” which the government suspects is linked to the now-banned ****** Brotherhood, has claimed responsibility for similar drive-by ********* and ******* targeting ******, military, judges and pro-government figures.

The Brotherhood won a series of elections in Egypt following the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood leader, became Egypt’s first freely elected president the following year. His brief rule proved divisive, and the military overthrew him in 2013. Authorities outlawed the Brotherhood a few months later, declaring it a ********* group. An ensuing security crackdown on the group’s ranks battered its leadership, who are either in prison or exile, and its youth became potential recruits for militant groups.

Last Friday, IS claimed responsibility for a stunning ****** on a remote Egyptian army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula with a ******* car **** and heavy machine-*** ****, ******* at least 23 soldiers. It was the deadliest ****** in the turbulent region in two years. On the same day, Hasm claimed responsibility for ******** and ******* a policeman in Cairo.

Recently, the government announced the ******* of Hasm members in alleged shootouts with security forces. In previous *********, families of the slain suspects challenged authorities’ accounts and accused them of illegal detentions, ******* and executions of their beloved ones. Last week, Hasm accused authorities of ******* its detained members and vowed to continue its ******* on security forces.

While Hasm distances itself from attacking Egypt’s Christians, the IS affiliate has concentrated its campaign on Coptic Christians and ******* bombers have struck three churches and a bus carrying Coptic Christians in recent months ******* more than 100 people. Egypt’s Christians account for about 10 per cent of the country’s 93 million people and extremists use Christians’ support for the military ouster of the Islamist Morsi as a justification for *******.

Besides the major ******* ********, militants have forced the displacement of scores of Christian families in northern Sinai after a spate of *********.

Friday’s ****** could impact an already struggling tourism industry – a pillar of Egypt’s economy that employs millions of people. The industry has suffered from political instability and a fragile security situation since the 2011 uprising. The year before the upheaval, nearly 15 million tourists visited Egypt. Last year, the figure was 5.3 million, according to official reports.