CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian security forces arrested at least eight members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in dawn raids at their homes on Thursday, a security official told AFP.

The Brotherhood, the country’s main opposition group, said that 12 members had been arrested.

The men were arrested at their homes in Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on charges of “trying to restart (the Brotherhood’s) activities,” the official said, adding that Islamist documents were seized during the raids.

The organisation’s number two, Mohammed Habib, accused the government of seeking to “prevent the Brotherhood from having a role in Egyptian political life,” in a statement.

The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, was officially banned in 1954 but is relatively tolerated. Using sympathisers running as independents, the group won one-fifth of seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections.