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Islamist militants hit Egypt's two largest cities on Sunday with a bombing in Cairo and an attack on a church in Alexandria, leaving one policeman dead and seven people wounded, security sources said, according to Reuters.
In a separate incident, the leader of a militant group that has targeted police and soldiers around the capital was killed in a firefight with security forces early on Sunday, the interior ministry said.
Egypt is facing an insurgency based in North Sinai that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Most militant attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, a remote but strategic region bordering Gaza, Israel and the Suez Canal.
Smaller-scale bombings have become increasingly common in Cairo and other cities.
Much of the worst violence is in the Sinai peninsula, where dozens of soldiers and police have been killed in recent months in attacks by militants pledging loyalty to Islamic State, writes the BBC.
The overthrow by the military of Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was followed by the suppression of his supporters. Hundreds have been killed and thousands jailed since President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, former head of Egypt's armed forces, came to power.
