Gunmen have killed a captain from Egypt's intelligence services and a policeman on a desert road outside Cairo.

Egypt's Interior Ministry said the joint security patrol was trying to stop a suspicious vehicle on the road to the canal city of Suez when its occupants opened fire.

Captain Ashraf Badeer al-Qazaz was killed in the firefight, along with a policeman from the central security force. The assailants managed to flee.

Yesterday, a militant group called Ajnad Misr, or Egypt's Soldiers, claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed a police officer on Friday in Cairo. The group said it is waging a campaign of retribution for the killing and detentions of protesters and young Egyptians.

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