CAIRO, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Interior Ministry said 14 people were arrested Saturday over charges of forming a militant group and plotting anti-government terrorist attacks in support of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
The defendants confessed that they belong to the Hasm Movement, which emerged late last year and is seen by the police as the Brotherhood's armed wing, the ministry said in a statement.
Hasm has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks that killed several policemen in Egypt.
"The leaders of the terrorist group assigned Hasm armed members in Minufiya Province to revive militant campaigns and prepare for a number of terrorist operations to destabilize the country and stir up disorder," the statement said.
The police also seized three guns, explosives and electric circuits as well as 160,000 Egyptian pounds (9,000 U.S. dollars) in cash, according to the statement.
Egypt has been fighting against a wave of terror activities that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military toppled former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently blacklisted Brotherhood.
Terror attacks in Egypt used to target military personnel in North Sinai before spreading nationwide and victimizing the Coptic minority, with most of them claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian military and police have killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's removal.
