A knife-wielding attacker has been shot dead after he stabbed a guard at a Coptic church in Egypt on Wednesday.

Egypt's state news reported the man was fatally shot by other security officials at the Virgin Mary church on the outskirts of Cairo after he stabbed one of their colleagues. 

The attack happened early on Wednesday morning according to MENA. Egyptian authorities are said to be investigating the incident which took place in the Nozha suberb.

Christians make up around 10 per cent of Egypt's 91 million population and have been been subject to increasing levels of violence in recent years.

The attacks notably increased after Coptic Christians sided with the Egyptian army in the military coup of 2013. The uprising ousted President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader and member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group.

Last month, police arrested 15 people after an arson attack on homes belonging to Coptic Christians in an Upper Egyptian village. 

June saw the assault on homes of Christian families in the village of Karm el Loofy, the burning of a kindergarten run by Christians in Minya, and the murder on June 30 of Rafael Moussa, a Coptic Orthodox priest of the church of St George. 

Egypt currently grants legal rights to mosques but not to churches meaning Christians struggle to build new houses of worship. The laws are being redrafted but the latest amendments have been branded "unacceptable" and "impractical" by Coptic leaders as the longstanding debate continues.

Despite a dracononian ban on protests in Egypt, dozens of Christians have marched publically demanding they be treated as ordinary citizens.

The talks with government will continue this month.