Two dead in Egypt shooting

The Egyptian authorities say the attacker was not an Islamic militant

By Heba Saleh in Cairo

The Egyptian interior ministry says an armed man opened fire at offices of the state security agency in a north Egyptian town on Saturday morning, killing one soldier and injuring two others.

In a statement, the ministry said Egypt's security services shot the man, who later died in hospital.

The ministry denied reports the attacker could have been an Islamic militant, saying instead the attacker was a university student suffering from depression.

Died in hospital

"The incident was an individual action and cannot be described as a terrorist act," the statement said.

It said that during the early hours of Saturday morning, the attacker - named as Hisham Nagy Eleiwa - opened fire on the guards outside the state security offices in the town of Zagazig, about 50 miles north of Cairo.

According to the statement, the attacker himself was hit and died in hospital while undergoing surgery.

A news agency had quoted witnesses who said the man had a beard and carried an automatic weapon, suggesting he was an Islamic militant.

But the Egyptian authorities said he had stolen a licensed gun from his father.

State security, which is an agency under the interior ministry, has been heavily involved in the fight against the Islamic groups in Egypt. Attacks by the groups have tended to be concentrated in the south of the country.

But even there the situation has been calm for almost four years.