Policeman and driver dead in Cairo shooting

Two policemen were also wounded in the attack, which took place when police officers went to inspect a parked car in the Heliopolis district.

The ministry said the unidentified assailants got out of the car and fired on the policemen with automatic rifles, before fleeing the scene.

It was not immediately clear who was behind this latest attack on security forces in Egypt, although anti-regime militants have carried out attacks on security forces.

The country has been dealing with an Islamist insurgency and an Islamic State group affiliate in northern Sinai since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seized power in a military coup in 2013.

Hundreds of soldiers and policemen have been killed in attacks.

Sunday's deadly shooting comes weeks after a police officer was wounded and seven suspected militants killed in a Cairo firefight and subsequent raid.

Relatives of "militants" killed by the police and security services under Sisi have cast doubt on official claims.

At least 465 men - Islamist militants according to the state - have been killed in shootouts with the police over the past three and a half years, the interior ministry says.

The family members of some of those killed told Reuters that their relatives were neither Muslim Brotherhood members or militants.

Most of them had been detained by the police or security services days, weeks or even months prior to their supposed involvement in firefights with the police.

In one case, a relative said a man who allegedly died in a "shootout" with four other "terrorists" had been detained six months before.

Forensic analysts shown photos of two cousins who Egypt claims died in the same police altercation noted that one had been shot execution style.

Another had no obvious gunshot wounds but appeared to have died up to 48 hours before the photos were taken.