The Egyptian Interior Ministry has reported foiling a plot to target key sites

Egyptian security forces have killed several members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood's armed wing in a raid in Giza, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.

The ministry said the group was linked to the Hasm movement formed in 2015 - a faction it has designated as a terrorist organization. Officials claimed the cell was directed by leaders based in Trkiye and was planning to infiltrate operatives into Egypt to carry out coordinated attacks.

The Hasm movement is "preparing and planning to revive their activities and carry out hostile operations targeting security and economic facilities," the ministry stated.

The statement identified five individuals as leaders of the alleged plot. One of them, Ahmed Muhammad Abdel Razek Ahmed Ghanim, previously sentenced to death in absentia, entered the country illegally through desert routes and was hiding in an apartment in the Bulaq al-Dakrour neighborhood in Cairo. He was reportedly working with another wanted man, Ehab Abdel Latif Muhammad Abdel Qader, who had been convicted in a separate terrorism case.

Security forces launched a raid on the hideout after receiving clearance from the Supreme State Security Prosecution. "They initiated random gunfire toward the forces and the surrounding area, prompting the forces to engage them," the statement noted. 

The militants died as a result of the shootout and a passing civilian was fatally shot. An officer was also injured while trying "to rescue the citizen," the ministry said.

Authorities allege the operation was part of a broader plan by the Hasm movement to revive its armed activity. According to SkyNewsArabia, a video surfaced two weeks ago allegedly linked to Hasm in which the group called for military action and threatened to carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt. 

The most recent activities linked to Hasm trace back to 2019, when Egyptian authorities accused the group of orchestrating a car bombing near the Cancer Institute in central Cairo, which resulted in 22 deaths.

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The Muslim Brotherhood, outlawed in Egypt since 2013, is considered a terrorist organization by Cairo. In 2019, figures from the Brotherhood denied ties to Hasm.