CAIRO (AFP) - The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group said its gunmen shot dead an Egyptian police colonel and a conscript west of Cairo as they travelled to work on Saturday (Jan 9).

The colonel, a traffic police district commander, and the conscript, who was driving, died in their car after coming under fire by unknown assailants, the interior ministry had said.

In a statement posted on Twitter, ISIS said its militants opened fire on three vehicles in the colonel's convoy.

The group's Egypt affiliate has claimed credit in the past for similar attacks in the capital and the Sinai Peninsula, where its insurgency is based.

The militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 and cracked down on his followers.

They also claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.