Head of the Interior Ministry’s Media Office Hany Abdel Latif confirmed that a policeman was shot dead and another was injured Wednesday morning at a checkpoint in Minya.

Assailants are still on the run however, Abdel Latif added.

Targeted attacks on policemen have been on the rise since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with rural Upper Egypt witnessing a number of these attacks.

Another case was reported in May when two undercover policemen in Minya were shot as they were returning home from their shift on a motorcycle. The policemen were intercepted by assailants who shot at them, then fled the scene.