Unidentified gunmen killed eight policemen in an attack on a police vehicle in Helwan, just south of capital Cairo. The North African nation’s Interior Ministry said in a statement, that four gunmen with automatic weapons got out of a small pick-up truck, stopped the police car, sprayed it with bullets and then fled. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Egypt is facing an insurgency, mainly based in North Sinai, that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since mid-2013.
The violence had started as the then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after protests against his rule. While the deadliest attacks take place in Sinai, militants have targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other cities.