CAIRO (Reuters) - One Egyptian policeman was killed and another wounded in an armed attack at a checkpoint in the northern province of Gharbiya on Monday, state news agency MENA said.

Authorities closed off the area and started searching for the perpetrators, an Interior Ministry source told MENA.

Security forces have come under attack in Egypt by Islamist militants since former army chief Abdel Fattah al Sisi, now the country's president, ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Andrew Heavens)