Two Egypt police shot dead near Giza pyramids

Cairo (AFP) - Gunmen on a motorbike Wednesday killed two Egyptian policemen guarding the tourist site of the Giza pyramids in Cairo, in the latest attack on security forces, police said.

One of the policemen was killed on the spot, while the other died in hospital, health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told AFP.

Jihadists have regularly attacked Egyptian security personnel since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Since then, the authorities have launched a brutal government crackdown against Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

Cairo-based jihadist group Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) has claimed a string of bombings targeting security forces in the capital that it says are to avenge the crackdown on Islamists.

In Egypt's Sinai Peninsula meanwhile the authorities are battling an affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group called Sinai Province.

Tourists have been largely spared from militant attacks in Egypt although a suicide bombing targeting a tourist bus in the Sinai last year killed three South Koreans and their Egyptian driver.