Egypt says 10 militants killed in raids, 2 arrested

Ten suspected Islamic militants were killed and two arrested in police raids across Egypt as they hunted down the perpetrators of a deadly car bomb attack, the interior ministry said today.

It said those targeted were members of Hasam, a jihadist group which the authorities have linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

They were allegedly involved in a March 24 car bombing on the eve of elections targeting a security chief for Alexandria in northern Egypt that killed two policemen.

Six militants were killed and a weapons cache unearthed as security forces raided a hideout in Beheira province, northwest of Cairo, the ministry said.

It said a suspect was arrested in a residential apartment in Alexandria where arms and explosives were also seized.

A shootout in Assiut province, south of Cairo, left four other suspects dead, it said, adding that a Hasam member who had allegedly acquired the car used in the Alexandria attack was also arrested.

The ministry's statement did not specify when the raids and arrests took place.

Police accuse Hasam of being an armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned after the army ousted Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule.

The Brotherhood denies any links with militancy and asserts it has solely political aims.