CAIRO (AFP) - The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group's Egyptian branch claimed on Sunday (May 8) a shooting that killed eight policemen on Cairo's southern outskirts, in a statement circulated on social media.

The interior ministry said a lieutenant and seven low-ranking policemen were killed in Helwan district overnight when four assailants sprayed their van with automatic rifle fire.

The Egyptian branch of the militant group, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria, has spearheaded an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

But attacks of this magnitude in or near Cairo are rare, and police have had more success in quelling them in the capital than in the sparsely populated Sinai.

In its statement, the group said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the van in Helwan, killing the policemen and then making off with their weapons.

It said the attack was retaliation for "the pure women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails.