A bomb attack killed six people, including three policemen, on Thursday near a road leading to the pyramids in the Cairo suburb of Giza, security sources said.

The bomb exploded as the police arrived in their vehicles in front of a building where suspected militants were hiding, the sources said. Thirteen people were wounded.

The deputy governor of Giza, Alaa Harass, says two of the wounded in Thursday's explosion are in a critical condition. The blast comes days before the Jan. 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising, which officials fear may be marked by protests and unrest.

The anniversary comes at a time when the economy, buttressed in the early days of el-Sissi's leadership by aid from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, is growing slower than authorities had hoped. At the same time, a wave of suicide bombings and militant attacks has intensified since el-Sissi led the army's ouster of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Over the past year, most of these attacks were claimed by the Daesh group.

Earlier Thursday, an Egyptian affiliate of Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint in the country's volatile Sinai Peninsula that killed five policemen. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim, which was issued via a statement circulated by the group's sympathizers on social media, however the design and logo resembled previous Daesh claims.

The attack took place at midnight on Wednesday in the city of el-Arish and also wounded three policemen, the Interior Ministry said.