Cairo, March 15 (IANS): At least six Egyptian soldiers were killed Saturday morning by gunmen who attacked a checkpoint on the outskirts of Egypt's capital Cairo, media reported.

A group of militants opened fire at a military checkpoint in Qalyubiya's Shubra El-Khayma district after soldiers offered dawn prayers, leaving several others injured, Xinhua reported citing a security official's statement to the Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Mohamed Yosri, the Qalyubia security chief, said that two bombs left behind by the attackers have been defused by explosive experts.

Violence and attacks targeting security forces and their installations have escalated across Egypt after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, killing hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

But in recent months, militant assaults have been creeping up in the capital and other Nile Delta cities.

Egyptian authorities blamed most of the attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest and most influential Islamist group. It was branded as a "terrorist organisation" last December