CAIRO (Reuters) - Two armed men suspected of making bombs were killed in a shoot-out with Egyptian security forces in an area north of Cairo, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

A statement said the two men, aged 25 and 44, were “responsible for manufacturing and transporting explosives to armed groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood”.

The ministry said the groups were Hasm and Lewaa al-Thawra. The Brotherhood, which says it is a peaceful organisation, was banned by the government after the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi, who had been the Brotherhood candidate, in 2013.

Hasm claimed responsibility for an attack that killed three policemen in Cairo on Monday. Little is publicly known about Hasm, though it has claimed a handful of attacks over the past year.

In addition to attacks claimed by Hasm, Egypt is also facing an insurgency by the local affiliate of Islamic State, both in the Sinai peninisula and more recently in Cairo and other cities, where bomb attacks on churches have killed more than 70 people since December.