Cairo - Egyptian police said four people were killed in the attempted robbery of a jewelry shop in Cairo on Wednesday.

Security sources said two armed men opened fire on a Christian-owned jewelry shop, in the mixed northern district of Zeitoun, and killed the owner and three workers before escaping.

The attackers escaped on motorbikes without stealing anything from the shop.

Sources in the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior asserted that the incident was a crime and had no political aspects.

Egypt's Christian Copts account for an estimated six to 10 per cent of the country's 76 million inhabitants and generally live in peace with the Muslim majority. (dpa)