REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO -- Egypt's security forces killed 10 suspected militants on Sunday in a shootout during a raid on two apartments in central Cairo, the Interior Ministry said.

Nine policemen, including four officers, were injured during the two raids, it said in a statement.

An insurgency led by Islamic State in Egypt's rugged Sinai peninsula has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the Egyptian military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013, but attacks have increasingly moved to the mainland in recent months.

Authorities received information about militants fleeing North Sinai to hideouts in Cairo, where they were preparing to carry out attacks on more centrally located provinces, the ministry statement said.

The police suffered their injuries after a suspected militant detonated an explosive device to block them from entering the building and during an exchange of fire that followed, security sources said.

One of the security sources said authorities suspect the individuals to be members of Hasm, a group which has claimed several attacks around the Egyptian capital targeting judges and policemen since last year.

Egypt accuses Hasm of being a militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group it outlawed in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood denies this.

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