Army Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Farouk Mandour was killed near the Ezz El-Din checkpoint on the Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road after anonymous militants opened fire on him on Monday afternoon, according to state-owned Al-Ahram.

Mandour was taken to Al-Galaa Military Hospital in the Second Field Army headquarters, where he died in surgery.

A round had penetrated his heart after he was shot from the back.

 Al-Ahram reported that the deceased was on his way to pray in a nearby mosque when militants opened fire on him.

The attack is the second to happen on Cairo-Ismailia road this week, as two more policemen were killed on Sunday night.

Police conscripts Al-Taher Mohamed Taher and Ahmed Abdallah Atteya were killed after an assault on the km 105 checkpoint, close to Al-Manayef village, according to Al-Ahram.

The assailants, who drove a car with no licence plates, fled the scene immediately.

The Ministry of Interior media center said that the search for the assailants is still on.