Egypt gunmen kill four policemen south of Cairo

Masked gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead four Egyptian policemen south of Cairo on Saturday, the interior ministry said.

The gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle, killing those inside, in an area between the famed Giza pyramids west of Cairo and the Saqarra pyramids to the south, the ministry said in a statement.

The attackers' affiliation was not immediately clear, but the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Let the soldiers of the tyrant know that we are lying in wait for them, and that they will not enjoy life as long as our eyes blink, Allah permitting," IS was quoted as saying in a statement posted on social media.

Militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula.

Attacks have also targeted policemen and government buildings in the capital, several of them claimed by an Islamic State group affiliate.

The militants often claim that their attacks are retaliation for a police crackdown on protesters, which has killed hundreds and left thousands in prison since the overthrow of elected president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013 in military coup.

The militants, however, are very critical of Morsi, and the Muslim Brotherhood movement which he hails from, for seeking power via the ballot box. 

The Egyptian military has struggled to quell the IS militants in Sinai, who claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian passenger plane on 31 October over the peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

But the militants have suffered more losses in Cairo, with police repeatedly killing or arresting cells in the capital.

The interior ministry announced earlier this month the killing of a top IS operative in Cairo suspected of involvement in the abduction and execution of a Croatian oil worker, and the bombing of the Italian consulate.

Ashraf Ali Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli died in a hail of bullets after he opened fire on policemen who tried to arrest him in the north of the capital, the ministry had said.