Gunmen in a car shot dead an Egyptian army colonel and wounded two soldiers outside a hotel in eastern Cairo on Friday

Gunmen in a car shot dead an Egyptian army colonel and wounded two soldiers outside a hotel in eastern Cairo on Friday, security officials said.
  
The attack came hours ahead of planned protests that have prompted the police and military to boost their presence in the capital and other cities. The identity of the assailants was not clear, but militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew President Mohammad Mursi in July last year.

The group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has also carried out attacks in Cairo and the Nile Valley, including an attempted assassination of the interior minister last year with a car bomb.