Cairo, May 20 (RHC)-- At least three Egyptian soldiers have been killed and several others wounded as gunmen attack a security checkpoint near al-Azhar University in the capital Cairo.  The attack took place near the university's dormitory in Nasr City on Monday night.
 
According to security sources, the attackers stepped out of two cars and opened fire on the checkpoint.  Some 11 people were also wounded in the raid.
 
Elsewhere in the northern Sinai Peninsula, gunmen blew up a gas pipeline just south of the city of al-Arish.  The attacks occurred ahead of Egypt's presidential election, which is set to be held on May 26th and 27th.
 
Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the main candidate, whose only opponent is the leftist politician, Hamdeen Sabahi.  Sisi's victory would place Egypt's presidency back in the hands of a top military official just three years after Egyptians rose up against former dictator Hosni Mubarak, an air force officer who ruled Egypt for nearly three decades.
 
Sisi led the overthrow of the country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament last July.  He is also accused of leading a serious crackdown against the supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
 
Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters have been killed in clashes with the Egyptian security forces over the past few months.  Rights groups say at least 1,400 people have been murdered in the violence since Morsi's ouster, "most of them due to excessive force used by security forces."