CAIRO: Gunmen shot dead six army officers near Cairo on Saturday, the second attack on Egyptian security forces in three days that the military has blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed President Muhammad Mursi.

Egypt has been hit by an insurgency that has mainly targeted the police and army since the military overthrew Mursi in July, and about 300 security officers have been killed in the wave of violence.

Saturday’s attack on a military police checkpoint was carried out by unidentified gunmen who then fled, according to state media. A senior security source told state TV that two bombs found near the checkpoint had also been defused.

The army released a statement shortly after, blaming the Brotherhood, but the outlawed movement’s leader Amr Darrag denied the accusation. “I condemn the killing of Egyptian soldiers. How can the Muslim Brotherhood be accused a few minutes after the attack with no evidence or investigation,” he said on Twitter.

Sinai-based group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on security officials, including an assassination attempt on the interior minister.

The group announced on radical websites on Saturday that one of its founders Tawfik Mohamed Farej, known among his followers by Abi Abdellah, had died four days ago when a car accident detonated a bomb he had in the vehicle. State-run news website Al-Ahram also reported he had died, but said he was killed by an army raid in the Sinai peninsula. The army was not immediately available to comment on this.