Egypt's state news agency says security forces have arrested four suspected members of a militant cell recruiting fighters for the Islamic State group in Syria.

The MENA news agency reported on Sunday that the four suspects, all of Egyptian nationality, were arrested in the Suez Canal city of Port Said.

The report quotes a senior local security official as saying the four confessed to recruiting young fighters to join the Islamic State militants in Syria. The agency says that according to the men's confessions, another four Egyptians, also members of the cell, are already in Syria.

Many Egyptians have traveled to Syria to join various rebel groups -including al-Qaida and extremist factions such as the Islamic State group.

Egypt is also battling its own militant insurgency, mostly in Sinai.