Egyptian authorities are hunting two masked gunmen who opened fire on a tourist bus near the Giza pyramids.

Security sources in Cairo said there have been no deaths among the group of holidaymakers, which included two Israelis.

An official said there had been some damage to the facade of the Three Pyramids Hotel.

The Egyptian government has been battling an insurgency based in northern Sinai, with attacks multiplying after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The uprising has seen the country's mainland attacked a number of times in recent months.

Some extremists in Sinai have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and claimed the downing of a Russian airliner that killed 224 people there last year.

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas today in the mainly Muslim country.

(Sky)