CAIRO: Nearly 70 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition group in Egypt, have been arrested and detained in two days north of Cairo, a security service official said on Thursday.

Thirty Islamists were arrested on Thursday at Dessouq, in Kafr El-Sheikh province, where a by-election was being held, said a security official, asking not to be named.

On Wednesday, 100 MB supporters were arrested during a march in the same locality, of whom 62 were released. The other 38, members of the Brotherhood, remain detained, the official said.

The detainees are accused of supporting a candidate belonging to the group, which is officially banned in Egypt, and have tried to propagate “the Brotherhood ideology.

The Muslim Brotherhood, created in 1928, was officially banned in Egypt in 1954 but is relatively tolerated. It has one-fifth of the seats in parliament, won in the election in 2005, with candidates standing as “independent. -AFP