Egypt says it has arrested more than 10 suspected terrorists who it claims were training to wage Jihad or holy war.

An interior ministry statement released Monday says the group, including nine French citizens, two Belgians and an American, were living in Egypt under the pretense of studying Arabic and Islam. The statement says several Egyptians, Tunisians and Syrians are also under arrest.

The statement says the group had adopted extremist views and was working to recruit new members to wage terror in Iraq. The government says the group has links to terror organizations abroad.

The ministry did not reveal the names of those under arrest.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo has refused to comment on the arrests.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.