CAIRO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced on Wednesday 17 people to three years in prison over forming an illegal group and committing terrorist activities, official MENA news agency reported.
A criminal court in Cairo convicted the 17 defendants of forming a militant group and joining a terrorist organization in Helwan district south of the Egyptian capital.
The prosecution charged the defendants with committing, inciting and plotting murder and attempted murder of policemen from Helwan traffic department and others from a nearby police station.
They were also accused of deliberate damage and sabotage of state properties for the purpose of harming the national economy.
Terrorist operations killed hundreds of Egyptian policemen, soldiers and civilians over the past few years.
The Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi is currently outlawed in Egypt as a terrorist organization.
Most of the terror attacks in the country over the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian army and police killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's ongoing anti-terror war declared by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
