Unidentified gunmen killed eight Egyptian policemen in an attack on a police vehicle in Helwan, located to the south of the capital Cairo, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said on Sunday.
The policemen were dressed in civilian clothes, and included an officer.
Through its official Facebook page, the ministry said that four gunmen with automatic weapons got out of a small pick-up truck, stopped the police car and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing.
Reuters news agency reports witnesses to say that the gunmen wore masks.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Egypt is facing an insurgency, mainly based in North Sinai, that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after protests against his rule.
While the deadliest attacks take place in Sinai, militants have targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other cities.
