Gunmen shoot university dean

Egypt sentences 9 to life in prison Two dead in attack on ‘police’ convoy

CAIRO, Dec 17, (AFP): Masked men on a motorcycle shot and wounded the dean of an Egyptian university on Thursday outside his home, police said.

Abdel Hakim Nur al-Din, head of the Zagazig University, was shot in the leg as he waited for his driver in the northern province of Sharqiya.

Police said the unidentified gunmen had fled. Their motive was unclear.

Militants have regularly carried out attacks across Egypt since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, but their targets have mostly been members of the security forces.

After Morsi’s ouster, students supporting him staged protests against the authorities at several Egyptian universities.

But protests became fewer after a government crackdown on Morsi supporters left hundreds dead and thousands more — including many student demonstrators — in jail.

Meanwhile, an Egypt military court has sentenced nine Egyptians to life in prison for their involvement in a failed attack on tourists at a famous pharaonic temple, army officials said Thursday.

Two others were also sentenced to seven years in jail on Wednesday for the attack. NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 17, (AP): A Kenyan police official says members of an extremist group attacked a police convoy escorting goods and shot dead two people, including a police officer, in the coastal Lamu County.

Police spokesman Charles Owino said Thursday al-Shabab militants attacked the convoy on the Mpeketoni-Lamu road late Wednesday burning vehicles and driving another police vehicle to Somalia.

This is the third attack by Somalia’s al-Shabab rebels since Sunday targeting Kenya security forces along the Somalia border. An Afghan boy rides a donkey on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan,

Dec 13. (AP)