Cairo, Nov 12 (IANS) An Egyptian top court upheld on Sunday a previous death sentence against seven defendants convicted of killing a policeman in 2013, official MENA news agency reported. The Court of Cassation upheld a previous execution order issued by Ismailia Criminal Court, northeast of the capital Cairo, for murdering policeman Ahmed Radwan Abu-Doma and seizing his gun during an armed attack against a security patrol in late 2013, Xinhua reported. The verdict is final and unappealable as the top court rejected the defendant's appeals.

The investigation back then showed that the gunmen rode a motorbike and a private car when they attacked the security men and exchanged fire with them. Two other defendants in the same case were sentenced to two and three years in jail for covering involved fugitives. Egypt has been suffering terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians following the popular-backed military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013.

Most of the terror attacks in Egypt were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group. Last week, an Egyptian military court sentenced eight fugitive IS suspect terrorists to death over involvement in deadly attacks against the Egyptian armed forces. On the other hand, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.