Just in: A Molotov cocktail hurled at a Cairo restaurant killed 12 people and wounded six on Friday, Egyptian security officials said.


Reuters reports that one of the officials said the attacker was an employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the centre of the Egyptian capital.


MENA, Egypt's state-run news agency, quoted an unnamed security official as saying three men on a motorcycle threw Molotov cocktails into the club in the Agouza district early Friday and then fled.


It said the fire was quickly extinguished and security authorities are investigating the attack.


Security officials earlier said 18 people died. Islamist militants have claimed a number of bombing and shooting attacks in Egypt, mostly against members of the security forces since the army toppled Mohamed Morsi, the former president, of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests.


File pic of protests in Cairo.