2 Egypt police killed in checkpoint attack

Two Egyptian policemen were killed and five other people wounded as gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint north of Cairo on Sunday, officials said.

The interior ministry on its Facebook page said three gunmen in a car without license plates fired at the checkpoint in Sadat City, an industrial zone 100 kilometres from the capital.

Two civilians were among the five wounded, the health ministry said.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was carried out for criminal motives or by Islamic State militants, who have mounted a string of deadly operations against security forces since the military ousted Egypt's first elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013.

Hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed in the attacks, mostly in the restive Sinai Peninsula.