CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces were hit by two roadside bombings in a single day on Friday that killed six policemen and wounded six in Cairo and the north of the country, security sources and officials said.

The attacks come as the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi faces an insurgency waged by Islamist groups.

In the first incident, on Friday morning, a recently emerged Egyptian militant group claimed responsibility for a bomb in Cairo that the interior ministry said killed six policemen and wounded three others at a checkpoint on a main road leading to the Pyramids.

The Hasm Movement, which has claimed several attacks in Egypt in recent months, said it set off the bomb which, security sources said, also injured four civilians.

Eyewitness Ahmed Al-Deeb described a scene of carnage, with dead and dying policemen lying next to wrecked cars. One of the policemen had blast fragments in his chest and two more had lost legs, he told Reuters Television.

The second attack came on Friday evening in the Kafr El Sheikh governorate in the Nile Delta, where a roadside bomb killed a civilian and injured three policemen, security sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bomb was detonated remotely as a police car drove by, but it exploded seconds after the vehicle passed, sparing the lives of the officers, the sources said.

SINAI INSURGENCY

The government is taking on militants in the Sinai Peninsula, where militants loyal to Islamic State are based, and Islamist groups elsewhere in the country.

Security forces killed three gunmen on Tuesday in a raid on a hideout in southern Egypt they said was used by Hasm, which they described as an armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful organization.

Hasm, the Arabic word for decisiveness, has accused judges of sentencing thousands of innocent people to death, or jailing them for life, at the behest of the military.

Egyptian judges have issued death sentences against hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters since 2013, when President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the group, was overthrown by the army and arrested.

The Brotherhood, which won Egypt’s first free elections after the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years in power, has since been banned and its leaders and members have largely been imprisoned or driven into exile or underground.

Slideshow (14 Images)

Since the crackdown, other small groups, including Hasm, have emerged. Hasm claimed responsibility in September for an assassination attempt on a senior prosecutor.

Militants loyal to Islamic State based in the Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police.

Judges, policemen and senior officials have been targeted by radical Islamists angered by long prison sentences imposed on members of the Brotherhood.</s>An emerging Egyptian terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed six security officers near the Pyramids of Giza on Friday.

The Hasm Movement said it was behind an explosion targeting a checkpoint on a main road near the tourist attraction in Cairo.

The blast struck near a mosque on Pyramids Road, the main avenue leading from the city centre out to the Giza pyramids, which is often used by tour buses, according to the state-run Mena news agency.

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The bombing appeared to have targeted two police vehicles parked along the road at a mobile checkpoint.

It completely destroyed one of the vehicles and severely damaged the other. Dozens of people gathered at the scene as police cordoned off the area.

The Egyptian interior ministry said two officers, a police officer and three conscripts were killed, with three more wounded.

The Hasm, or Hassam Movement, has claimed several recent attacks in statements circulated online, including the attempted assassination of Egypt's former Grand Mufti in August.

Friday's bombing came days after the interior ministry said police killed three Hasm Movement members in southern Egypt as part of efforts to break the group's cells.

The Islamist militant group first emerged in July, when it claimed the assassination of police chief Major Mahmoud Abdel Hamid, the Jane’s Information Group reported.

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This is to coincide with his state of the nation address in Manila. AFP/Getty

Isis’ Egyptian affiliate has been behind a string of similar attacks targeting Egyptian security forces over the past year.

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In May, militants opened fire on a bus filled with plainclothes police in the Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing eight of them.

An explosive device also struck a police convoy in Cairo in October, killing a pedestrian bystander, and several shooting and grenade attacks have been launched.

Isis’ Wilayat Sinai faction is waging a long-running insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula and was behind the downing of a Russian passenger plane flying from Sharm el-Sheikh in October 2015.

Insurgent attacks have intensified since a 2013 military coup that ousted Mohamed Morsi, the democratically elected leader of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party.</s>Egyptian emergency services carry a wounded victim at the site of a bomb attack next to a police checkpoint in Cairo on December 9, 2016. By STRINGER (AFP)

Cairo (AFP) - Two separate bomb attacks in Egypt on Friday killed six policemen and a civilian, the latest in a string of attacks targeting security forces and officials, the interior ministry said.

The deadliest attack struck in the western Talibiya neighbourhood of the capital, shortly before the weekly midday Muslim prayers and when Cairo's streets are mostly empty.

The bloodied bodies of several policemen could be seen at the blast site next to police vehicles that had been stationed there, an AFP photographer reported.

The Hassam Movement, a militant group which has claimed a string of recent attacks, said it was behind the bombing, in a statement circulated on social media.

Police cordoned off the area with yellow tape as they searched for more explosives.

The interior ministry said in a statement that the bomb exploded next to a checkpoint, killing two officers, a policeman and three conscripts.

Three other conscripts were wounded.

The second blast took place in the evening on a road linking the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh to the northern coastal town of Baltim.

The ministry said on its Facebook page that a "roadside bomb exploded... slightly wounding two policemen who were patrolling in a car and killing a civilian... who happened to be in the vicinity".

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the second attack.

Militants have repeatedly attacked police and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and unleashed a bloody crackdown on his followers.

Most of the attacks are carried out in the Sinai Peninsula in eastern Egypt by a branch of the Islamic State jihadist group, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

But militants have also targeted security forces and government officials in the capital.

Most of the Cairo attacks in recent months have been claimed by two little-known militant groups, Lawaa al-Thawra and the Hassam Movement.

An Egyptian judge in one of the trials of Morsi, who was detained after his ouster, escaped unharmed last month when a car bomb exploded as he drove past.

That attack came days after a roadside bombing targeting a police convoy killed a passer-by.

In September, militants set off a car bomb as the country's deputy state prosecutor was passing. He too escaped unharmed.

Police say Hassam and Lawaa Al-Thawra are affiliated with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, which was banned months after his overthrow and listed as a terrorist organisation.

The Brotherhood, which espoused grassroots work and change through elections, denies it is involved in violence.

The group had been the country's largest opposition movement under veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak, and dominated polls after his overthrow in 2011.

In 2012, it won a presidential election with its candidate, Morsi, whose divisive rule led to mass protests a year later that prompted the army to overthrow him.

Hundreds of Morsi's supporters were killed in protest clashes with police and the army in the following months.

The Brotherhood now operates as an underground and splintered movement, with some followers believed to have embraced attacks against police while others insist on non-violence.

Friday's bombings came days after the interior ministry said police killed three Hassam Movement members in southern Egypt, and weeks after it announced it had broken up one of the group's cells.</s>CAIRO (AP) — An explosion on a main Cairo thoroughfare killed six police and wounded another three on Friday, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on security forces in several months.

The state-run MENA news agency said the explosion took place near a mosque on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city center out to the Giza pyramids, which is often used by tour buses. It says the blast targeted security forces, without elaborating on what caused the explosion.

Insurgents have carried out a number of attacks in Egypt since the 2013 military ouster of an elected Islamist president. The violence has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, but there have also been several attacks on the mainland, including in the capital.

An AP reporter at the scene said the bombing appeared to have targeted two police SUVs parked along the road at a mobile checkpoint. The explosion completely destroyed one of the vehicles and severely damaged the other. Dozens of people gathered at the scene as police cordoned off the area.

It appeared to be the deadliest attack in Egypt since May, when gunmen opened fire on a microbus filled with plainclothes police in the Cairo suburb of Helwan, killing eight of them. The Islamic State group, which has a powerful affiliate based in the Sinai, claimed the attack.

An explosive device struck a police convoy in Cairo in October, killing a pedestrian bystander.</s>Egyptian explosives experts look for evidence at the site of a bomb explosion in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Egypt's state-run news agency says the explosion has killed several police and wounded others. MENA says the explosion took place early Friday on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city center out to the Giza pyramids. It says the blast targeted security forces, without elaborating on what caused the explosion. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

CAIRO (AP) — A bombing on a main Cairo road leading to the Giza pyramids killed six police and wounded another three on Friday, the deadliest attack on security forces in the capital in more than six months.

The bombing, near a mosque on a wide avenue often used by tour buses, hit a police checkpoint, smashing several cars and blowing the windows out of police SUVs. Gravel, debris, and leaves littered the ground, as investigators inspected the area and masked troops stood guard with automatic weapons.

"We heard the blast and rushed to the scene and found police vehicles damaged," said Abdel Hamid Abdulla, who was nearby. "We saw some police were injured, and some of their legs had been cut off," he said.

State-run news agency MENA said the blast targeted security forces but did not elaborate on what caused the explosion. A security official said that two bombs placed in the area exploded during a security patrol. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists.

A shadowy group called Hasm, or "Decisiveness," which the government suspects is linked to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, claimed responsibility for the attack. It has claimed previous attacks in Cairo, including a shooting against the country's former chief Muslim theologian and a car bomb against the chief prosecutor's deputy. Both escaped unhurt.

"There is no safety or security for you as long as we hold our weapons in jihad for God, there is either victory or martyrdom," the group said in a statement posted online.

Insurgents have carried out a number of attacks in Egypt since the 2013 military ouster of an elected Islamist president. The violence has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic State-linked militants are battling the army.

Friday's attack was the deadliest in Cairo since May, when gunmen opened fire on a microbus filled with plainclothes police in the suburb of Helwan, killing eight of them. IS claimed the attack.

Most of the attacks in Cairo have been small-scale bombings, including one in October that targeted a police convoy and killed a pedestrian bystander.

Friday's attack comes as President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is defending tough economic measures undertaken by his government to address a growing financial crisis and secure a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The government floated the Egyptian pound last month and slashed fuel subsidies, steps that were welcomed by the IMF and the business community but caused a spike the price of many goods, worsening the economic plight of ordinary Egyptians.

The austerity measures could fuel a backlash against el-Sissi, who rose to power after leading the military ouster of President Mohammed Morsi three years ago. Morsi had been freely elected a year earlier, but his rule proved divisive and the military stepped in amid massive protests demanding his resignation.

Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report.</s>Six police officers have been killed and three wounded in a bomb explosion near pyramids in Egypt.

Four bystanders were also hurt in the blast, which targeted a security checkpoint in the country’s capital Cairo on Friday.

It is the deadliest attack on security forces in several months although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.

The bomb went off in Al Haram street – the main avenue leading from the city centre to the Giza pyramids.

Reports from the scene suggest the bombing appeared to have targeted two police cars parked on the road.

It is the latest in a series of attacks in the country since the former elected Islamist president was overthrown in 2013.

Hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed in an Islamist insurgency led by Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula.

On Tuesday security forces killed three gunmen in a raid on a suspected Muslim Brotherhood hideout in southern Egypt after the group claimed responsibility in September for an assassination attempt of a senior prosecutor.</s>CAIRO (AP) — A bombing on a main Cairo road leading to the Giza pyramids killed six police and wounded another three today, the deadliest attack on security forces in the capital in more than six months.

The bombing, near a mosque on a wide avenue often used by tour buses, hit a police checkpoint, smashing several cars and blowing the windows out of police SUVs. Gravel, debris, and leaves littered the ground, as investigators inspected the area and masked troops stood guard with automatic weapons.

"We heard the blast and rushed to the scene and found police vehicles damaged," said Abdel Hamid Abdulla, who was nearby. "We saw some police were injured, and some of their legs had been cut off," he said.

State-run news agency MENA said the blast targeted security forces but did not elaborate on what caused the explosion. A security official said that two bombs placed in the area exploded during a security patrol. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists.

A shadowy group called Hasm, or "Decisiveness," which the government suspects is linked to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, claimed responsibility for the attack. It has claimed previous attacks in Cairo, including a shooting against the country's former chief Muslim theologian and a car bomb against the chief prosecutor's deputy. Both escaped unhurt.</s>Dozens of people have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt. By MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (AFP/File)

Cairo (AFP) - An explosion in a Cairo church on Sunday near the headquarters of the Coptic pope killed at least 20 people, the health ministry said.

The blast ripped through the church around 10:00 am (0800 GMT), Egyptian security officials said.
Six policemen are killed in a bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Cairo, Egypt. The Hasm Movement claims responsibility for the attack.