Nine people were killed, including a policeman, and four injured in a terrorist shootout outside a church and a shop in Helwan District, south of Cairo, on Friday, Egypt's Ministry of Interior announced today.

"The security forces frustrated an attack on Mar Mina Church in the Helwan district," said a statement from the Ministry and carried by the Middle East News Agency (MENA).

The ministry added that its forces arrested an attacker who attempted to drive through security forces outside the church armed with a machinegun, ammunition and a bomb that he intended to detonate in the church. The ministry said he killed two people when he opened fire on a shop before heading to the church where he shot dead seven people, including a policeman.

The arrested attacker is an active terrorist who has carried out a number of terrorist attacks targeting police and civilians, the statement added.