Gunmen kill eight Egyptian policemen south of Cairo

Gunmen shot dead eight plainclothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

The officers were travelling in a minivan when militants in a pickup truck blocked their path and sprayed the vehicle with automatic rifle fire, the ministry said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but jihadi groups - including Islamist State group militants - have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula, but also in and around Cairo.

The interior ministry said the dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who were patrolling the area just south of the capital when they were attacked late at night.

Egypt is battling an continued insurgency that spiked after the military overthrew Egypt's first democratically-elected President Mohammad Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Despite promising to clamp down hard on lawlessness, former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has seen a wave of violence against the military under his leadership.

The insurgency has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and IS militants have started to attack Western targets within the country.

Last October, IS claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian regime has launched a campaign of repression against the Muslim Brotherhood and leftist opposition.

Hundreds were shot dead in the 2013 Rabaa massacre, and other suspects have been killed in detention or sentenced to death by Egyptian courts. 

After Sisi handed over control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia last month, further bans on protests were announced and additional arrests of activists made in an attempt to quell popular anger.