Islamists have killed six people in a bomb blast on a road used to transport tourists to the pyramids in Egypt.

The explosion rocked a checkpoint near a mosque in the western Talibiya neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital Cairo shortly before Muslim Friday prayers this morning.

All of the victims were police officers either in or near their car while four civilians were hurt when the device went off near a bin.

The bloodied bodies of several policemen could be seen at the scene next to police vehicles that had been stationed there.

The bomb went off on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city centre out to the Giza pyramids.

Islamists have killed six people in a bomb blast on a road used to transport tourists close to the pyramids in Egypt

The explosion rocked a checkpoint at Al Haram street in the Egyptian capital Cairo this morning

Police cordoned off the area with yellow tape and searched for more explosives while emergency crews treated victim

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

The attack, close to a government building in a middle class neighbourhood of Cairo, was the latest in a series of security incidents in Egypt often claimed by radical Islamists.

The interior ministry said in a statement that the explosion took place next a checkpoint, killing two officers, a low ranking policeman and three conscripts.

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.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Friday's bombing came days after the interior ministry said police killed three members of the Hassam Movement in the country's south, and weeks after it announced breaking up one of the group's cells.

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

The attack, close to a government building in a middle class neighbourhood of Cairo, was the latest in a series of security incidents in Egypt often claimed by radical Islamists

The interior ministry said in a statement that the explosion took place next a checkpoint, killing two officers, a low ranking policeman and three conscripts

An Egyptian explosives expert examines damage to a police vehicle following a deadly bomb explosion in Cairo

The blast took place on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city centre out to the Giza pyramids

Most of the attacks are conducted in the Sinai Peninsula by a branch of the Islamic State group, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen there.

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

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 by.

That attack came days after a roadside bombing targeting a police convoy killed a passerby.

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

Egyptian explosives experts look for evidence at the site of a bomb explosion in Cairo, Egypt

The explosion took place early on Friday on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city centre out to the Giza pyramids. A woman walks past the scene

The attack, close to a government building in a middle class neighbourhood of Cairo, was the latest in a series of security incidents in Egypt often claimed by radical Islamists

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

Police say they 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 his 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 of its followers believed to have embraced attacks against policemen while others insist on non-violence.

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

The bombing appeared to have targeted two police SUVs parked along the road at a mobile checkpoint, according to reports