Daesh claims responsibility for attack on Egyptian police in Cairo

Daesh terrorist group's Egyptian branch claimed on Sunday a shooting that killed eight policemen South of Cairo, in a statement circulated on social media.

Gunmen shot dead eight plain clothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district South of Cairo, the interior ministry said Sunday, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

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

Terrorists, including Daesh terrorists, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around capital Cairo.

Egyptian criminal gangs have also killed policemen in shoot outs, but the attack bore the hallmarks of terrorists who have waged an insurgency since the military overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

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 ambushed late at night.

The terrorists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering the occupied lands called 'Israel' and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads in the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai.

EA