Cairo, May 6: Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Qandil survived an attack on his motorcade by a group of armed men late Sunday, an interior ministry statement said.
"A vehicle intruded into the prime minister's motorcade and when the security guards tried to push it away, one of its passengers opened fire at the security vehicle," Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.
"While running away, the vehicle hit a policeman and a citizen but the police managed to bust the vehicle and arrest the five attackers after a pursuit," said the statement.
The interior ministry statement revealed that the armed men were on their way for a fight with some people in another area when they happened to pass by Qandil's motorcade.
The Egyptian cabinet said the armed attack was not politically motivated, according to the state-run MENA news agency.
"The attack on the prime minister's motorcade on his way home was not politically motivated and he is fine and nothing hurt him," MENA quoted the cabinet's spokesman Alaa al-Hadidi as saying.
Hadidi added that the incident was just a criminal activity.
