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Police in Egypt have arrested five people for using children to stage fake footage they claimed was shot in Aleppo.

The videographer, two assistants and the parents of two children who appear in the footage were detained by officers, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said.

The very amateur-looking footage shows an eight-year-old girl wearing a white dress and bandages, and clutching a teddy bear, all of which are covered in bright red stains.

A 12-year-old boy is also interviewed on the film, in which he is questioned about what life is like in the besieged city.

The raw videos and stills were released by the Interior Ministry alongside a statement on Facebook, which said a camera and six mobile phones had been seized at the scene.

The group had allegedly planned to share the footage on social media, and claim that it was shot in Aleppo.

The northern Syrian city has been caught up in four years of fighting between the regime and Sunni rebels.

The group initially attracted the attention of police after officers spotted the girl's stained dress, and cops swooped after trailing them to building site, where they made the arrests.

Syrian activists and volunteer rescue workers the White Helmets have often been accused by critics of posting fake footage that claimed to show the aftermath of Russian-backed government bombing raids in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.

The videos, which often feature children , have shown destroyed buildings and survivors being pulled from the rubble in the war-torn city.

But the Syrian government and its allies claim that many of the videos and images that are reportedly from Aleppo which have been posted on social media were actually staged or filmed elsewhere.

It was not immediately clear what charges Egyptian officials had brought against the group, but Egyptian authorities said the photographer was still being held as officers continue to examine the material, while the other four suspects had been released on bail.