Egyptian police said on Saturday they foiled a church bombing by arresting a cell including the would-be attackers, two months after suicide bombers killed dozens of church goers in two attacks.

Six members of the extremist cell including two "suicide bombers" planning the attack on an Alexandria church were arrested in the Mediterranean city, the interior ministry said in a statement.

It said one attacker had planned to detonate an explosive vest inside the church and the other to blow himself up when police arrived to the scene.

The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the two church bombings in April and one in December that killed more than seventy people.

On Thursday, the interior ministry said police killed seven suspected extremists in southern Egypt alleged to have been linked to the church attacks.