A roadside bomb near a security checkpoint has killed six police and wounded three others in Cairo. The attack happened close to a government building in a middle class neighbourhood.

An AP reporter at the scene said the bombing appeared to have targeted two police SUVs parked on the road at a mobile checkpoint.

The explosion completely destroyed one of the vehicles and severely damaged the other. It was the latest in a series of security incidents in Egypt often claimed by radical Islamists.

Security sources said there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Egypt's Interior Ministry said a security cordon had been thrown around the scene of the attack.