Egypt police detain 13 Islamist students: sources

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police have detained 13 university students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group in the country, security officials said on Tuesday.

The authorities routinely detain Brotherhood activists and have intensified a crackdown against the Islamist group ahead of nationwide local elections set for April 8.

One security official said the 13 students were detained on Monday in the Mediterranean Sea city of Alexandria, a day after police rounded up at least 47 members of the group in three other cities.

The detentions bring to about 455 the number of Muslim Brotherhood members now in custody. Most of them are detained without charges, the group says.

The Egyptian government calls the Brotherhood an outlawed group but members hold a fifth of the seats in the lower house of the parliament. The organization operates openly within limits and maintains offices in Cairo and other cities.

(Writing by Alaa Shahine, editing by Jonathan Wright and Mary Gabriel)