Defendants were charged over the death of a police officer in Egypt’s second biggest city, Alexandria, during the violent upheaval following the army's ousting of Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohammed Mursi, Al-Akhbar reported.

On Monday, an Egyptian court sentenced 183 supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on charges of killing police officers.

Egypt has mounted one of the biggest crackdowns in its modern history on the Brotherhood since Mursi’s political demise.

Security situation in Egypt

Since the army deposed Mursi on July 3, 2013, at least 1,400 people have been killed in police crackdown on protests and more than 15,000 imprisoned.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death in swift mass trials which the United Nations has called "unprecedented in recent history."

United Nations has called this "unprecedented in recent history."

Meanwhile, one person was killed in an attack on a restaurant north of Cairo on Thursday, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

A fire broke out at the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in a town in the province of Menoufia, after assailants on a motorcycle threw flammable materials and then opened fire, it said. One person was wounded.

Frequent small-scale attacks have hurt Egypt's efforts to project an image of stability after four years of turmoil triggered by the 2011 uprising.

Egypt hosts an investment conference next month in the resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh, in the southern Sinai Peninsula.

On Thursday, in the main Sinai city of al-Arish, gunmen in a car opened fire on policemen guarding a hotel used by police officers, killing one and wounding another, security officials said.

A picture uploaded on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian army spokesperson on November 20, 2013 shows a burnt-out army bus following a car bomb attack in North Sinai's provincial capital Al-Arish With 11 soldiers killed and dozens wounded.

On January 29, the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) arm in Egypt claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula that killed at least 30 people.

"Islamist militants" in Sinai have stepped up attacks on police and soldiers since the army toppled Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.

Egypt has launched a crackdown in Sinai and systematically repressed Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

The Brotherhood said it is a peaceful organization and repeatedly denounced attacks on police and security forces.