Gunmen killed three Egyptian policemen and seriously wounded a fourth on Saturday in El-Arish, in the Sinai Peninsula, state television said.

“Armed men who might belong to a jihadist group attacked a police vehicle and fired on its passengers before fleeing,” a security source was quoted by AFP as having said.

“The dead and wounded were taken to the general hospital in El-Arish, where one of the policemen died from serious wounds,” a medic said, according to the report. A civilian was also wounded in the attack.

Security forces threw up a cordon around the city in an attempt to capture the gunmen, AFP reported.

Security in the Sinai collapsed and lawlessness took over after an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Egyptian security forces launched a campaign to crush terrorists in the restive Sinai, after an attack on an army outpost killed 16 soldiers on August 5.

There has been a state of high alert in the Sinai in the wake of the attack. In some cases terrorists have managed to come close to the Israeli border and open fire on IDF patrols. Israel has urged Egypt to tackle the growing lawlessness in Sinai.

On Friday, Bedouin tribesmen attacked a police post in the central Sinai city of Nakhl, attempting to free one of their number who was in detention, AFP reported.