Egyptian police have killed two members of the Hasm militant group in a shootout near New Cairo, a statement by the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry says the two suspects, identified as Ahmed El-Bahnasawy and Emad El-Far, shot at police as they attempted to apprehend them.

The ministry says the men were suspected of involvement in two deadly attacks in May against security forces, including a drive-by shooting in Cairo's Nasr City that killed three policemen and injured five others.

The ministry also linked the suspects to a June bombing that killed a Central Security officer on Cairo's Autostrad Road, as well as the 2016 attempted assassination of the Nasr City Criminal Court head judge Ahmed Abdel-Fotouh. 

The two men were previously sentenced in several terrorism-related cases, with sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.

Hasm has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Egyptian security personnel in recent months, mostly targeting police checkpoints.

Egyptian security forces have arrested and killed dozens of suspected Hasm members in the past few months.

Egyptian officials have said that that the group is linked to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.