Gunmen killed four security personnel in an attack at a police checkpoint in Saqqara, near some of Egypt's historic pyramid sites, the Interior Ministry and three security sources said on Saturday.

One security source said the two attackers were riding a motor bike when they opened fire using machine guns at a police checkpoint in Saqqara, 22 miles south of Cairo.

The interior ministry said in a statement that security forces are scanning the area of the attack in search of the gunmen.

Egypt is fighting an Islamist insurgency that has been targeted mostly at security personnel. Hundreds of police and army personnel have been killed since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.-Reuters