(CNN)Two assailants were killed and one injured in a thwarted attack at Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, on Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The attackers confronted security officials at Karnak with firearms and explosives, Egypt's Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The three men, who were in a car, tried to enter the temple's parking lot when a plainclothes policeman forced it to stop, Egypt's Tourism Ministry said. Security forces confronted them, and two were killed: one died when he detonated the explosives he was carrying, and another was shot in the head, the Interior Ministry added.
The third militant was injured.
Egypt's Health Ministry said in a statement that five people were injured, including civilians.
"The policeman who stopped the vehicle sustained minor injuries, but due to his heroic actions, many other potential victims were saved and thankfully no tourists were harmed," Tourism Minister Khaled Rami said.
Typically, thousands of tourists visit Luxor and Karnak Temple daily.
After the attack, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered an intensified security presence at vital sites in the country, including sites of antiquity, el-Sisi's office told CNN.
Egypt's minister of antiquity and minister of tourism were in Luxor on Wednesday to assess the situation.
This is the first deadly attack on a Luxor tourist site since 1997, when gunmen killed 62 people -- most of them international tourists.