Cairo: Members of a cell belonging to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and convicted of plotting attacks in Egypt were among the escapees in a weekend prison break, a security official told AFP Thursday.
The 22 cell members fled on Sunday along with members of Palestinian group Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of other convicts during a mass breakout amid anti-government protests in Egypt.
The Hezbollah members escaped from Wadi Natrun north of Cairo after guards abandoned their posts.
Last April a Cairo court handed down stiff prison sentences to 26 people in connection with a plot to carry out attacks on the Suez Canal and Sinai resorts. Four were sentenced in absentia.
In a handwritten letter obtained by AFP, the defendants - most of whom had been detained between late 2008 and January 2009 - said they never planned attacks in Egypt.
