A military funeral was held in New Cairo’s police academy on Sunday afternoon for eight policemen gunned down by unknown assailants in the capital's southern district of Helwan.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, four individuals, who were waiting in a mini-van, opened fire on a police patrol resulting in the deaths of all eight officers, state news agency MENA reported.

The slain policemen included seven low-ranking policemen and a junior police officer.

The assailants are still at large.

Sunday's deadly assault on the patrol was one of the largest attacks on security forces in the capital in months.

The south Cairo prosecution said in a statement it had examined the scene of the crime, questioned 10 eyewitnesses and impounded 120 bullet shells from the site.

The officers' bodies were transported from the scene to the Zeinhom morgue to undergo an autopsy at the hands of medical examiners.

Shortly thereafter, families of the slain officers arrived outside the morgue to retrieve the victims' bodies to prepare them for burial.

The prosecution has yet to issue a full report on the incident.