A policeman was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off late Wednesday night near a police station in Egypt's town of Fayoum.

Attacks on police and army forces have been recurrent in Egypt with hundreds of personnel killed or injured, particularly in North Sinai where the military is battling a jihadist insurgency.

Attacks have also spread to Cairo and other governorates and civilians have been caught up in the violence.

On Tuesday, one policeman — an explosives expert — was killed as he attempted to disarm a bomb planted near a police station in Giza.

On the same day, hours before the Coptic Christmas mass, two policemen were shot dead killed outside a church in Upper Egypt's Minya.