Cairo, Jan 31 (IANS): An Egyptian court Saturday banned Palestinian group Hamas' armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, and listed it as a terrorist organisation.
"The court decided to ban the al-Qassam Brigades and to list it as a terrorist group," Xinhua news agency quoted a judiciary official of the Cairo Urgent Matters Court as saying.
Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Egyptian authorities have been working to fight against Islamist militants based in the restive Sinai Peninsula, some of whom allegedly colluded with the Hamas movement.
Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, was banned from all activities in Egypt in March last year.