CAIRO: Egypt has executed seven people over the killing of a police officer in the northeastern city of Ismailiya in 2013, a security official said Tuesday.

"The prison service on Tuesday carried out the sentence of death by hanging against seven people convicted of killing Captain Ahmad Abu Douma," the security official told AFP.

Their bodies had been handed to their families, he added.

Abu Douma had been on patrol in Ismailiya, close to the Suez Canal, when he came under fire by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike and in a car, who seized his weapon.

An appeals court had in November 2018 rejected an appeal against the sentence.

Egypt has been plagued by unrest since the 2011 overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak.

Jihadist groups particularly active in the Sinai peninsula have carried out attacks across the country, many targeting police and security forces.