"The Brotherhood members clashed with security forces," said one of the
officials, adding that they were meeting to plan what he called
"terrorist attacks".
Egyptian security forces on Friday killed nine militants who took part in a bomb attack at the Italian consulate in Cairo in July, the Interior Ministry said.
The ultra-hardline Islamic State group, which has supporters based in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, had claimed responsibility for that July attack which killed one person.
The
Interior Ministry said three policemen were wounded in an exchange of
fire with what it called "terrorists" killed in a raid on a house in
Cairo on Friday. It said they were found with weapons, including belts
used for suicide bombings.
Hours before the Interior Ministry issued a statement, officials told Reuters that security forces killed nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood
movement in the same operation. The group, whose top leaders have been
sentenced to death in what human rights groups call unfair trials, says
it is committed to peaceful activism.
"The Brotherhood members clashed with security forces," said one of the officials, adding that they were meeting to plan what he called "terrorist attacks".
Egypt's
government describes militants as terrorists and makes no distinction
between the Brotherhood, which renounced violence decades ago, and
groups like Islamic State and Al Qaeda, arguing they share the same ideology.
The
Brotherhood, which was removed from power by the army in 2013, has
accused authorities in the Arab world's largest state of killing unarmed
members in raids.
In July, the Brotherhood called
for a revolt after police killed 13 prominent members in a swoop on an
apartment in a Cairo suburb. The men's families and lawyers said they
were unarmed.
Among the dead in that raid was
Nasser al-Hafi, a prominent lawyer for the Brotherhood and a former
lawmaker. Egypt's Interior Ministry said the 13 men were plotting
attacks.
Egypt cracked down on Islamists after then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled democratically-elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.
Security
forces shot dead hundreds at a Cairo protest camp and arrested
thousands of others, drawing widespread criticism from human rights
groups.
Sisi, who went on to become elected
president, declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group and says Islamist
militants pose an existential threat to Egypt.
Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, called Sinai Province, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since Mursi was ousted.
Diplomats and analysts say Sisi's clampdown has pushed some members of the Brotherhood to take up arms against the state.