Two Killed in Terror Attack at Egypt’s Giza Pyramids

Gunmen killed two members of the Egyptian tourist police force and injured a conscript in front of the Giza Pyramids outside of Cairo on Tuesday.

The government has not released any new information on the conscript’s condition since the attack was announced on Tuesday.

Reports say that the gunmen rode motorcycles and fled the scene immediately after they killed the policemen. They remain unidentified, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Egypt, formerly a comparatively peaceful country in the Arabic world, has seen attacks on police officers and military infrastructure become commonplace over the last year and a half.

Terrorists rarely choose to strike at tourist sites in Egypt.

“Intensified efforts” are underway as Egyptian security forces investigate, representatives of the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

This attack at a high-profile location may hurt one of Egypt’s largest business sectors. Tourism is a major industry for Egypt; 14.8 percent of the country GDP comes from tourism. As terror attacks have been on the rise, fewer tourists are interested in coming to the land of the pharaohs, and the economy suffers for it.

Egypt has seen a steady rise in terror incidents since the military ousted Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since then, restrictions placed on the government on Islamist groups have frustrated many supporters of some of Egypt’s more radical groups, and many have turned to political violence and terrorism to further their agenda.

One terrorist group active in Egypt in recent years is Ajnad Misr—which translates to “the Soldiers of Egypt.” They vow to commit acts of brutal violence in revenge for the military’s crackdown on Islamists in the wake of the 2013 ousting.

Since 2014, Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for at least 15 attacks in the Cairo area, primarily targeting police officers.

On Tuesday, government authorities arrested two senior-level Muslim Brotherhood leaders, and if Ajnad Misr committed the attacks, it may be in retaliation for the recent arrests.

Another active terrorist group that may have perpetrated this recent attack is Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. Based out of the Sanai Peninsula, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is Egypt’s most active terrorist group and has killed dozens of Egyptians.

In 2014, the group pledged allegiance to ISIS and has been committing atrocities similar to those ISIS is committing in Iraq and Syria, such as beheading prisoners.