Egypt charges 215 Muslim Brotherhood supporters Published duration 22 February 2015

image copyright EPA image caption Prosecutors claim the Muslim Brotherhood supporters are responsible for terror attacks in Cairo.

Egypt has charged 215 supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood with forming a militant group.

The country's chief prosecutor accused the group - known as the Helwan Brigades - of killing six policemen and possessing weapons and ammunition.

More than half of those charged are already in custody.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested since then-army head Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted the group from power in 2013 and later banned it.

Mr al-Sisi was elected president last year and continued the campaign against the brotherhood and other Islamist groups.

On Sunday Prosecutor Hesham Barakat said in a statement that the Helwan Brigades - named after a district in the south of Cairo - had killed the six policemen and wounded several civilians in attacks in the city.

Earlier this month, a Egyptian court upheld death sentences on 183 supporters of the Islamist group over a 2013 attack on a police station near Cairo.