Egyptian police raided more than a dozen offices belonging to local and foreign rights groups on Thursday, as part of an investigation into alleged illicit foreign funding, an official statement said.

At least two US rights groups — the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) — were targeted in the operation, judicial sources said.

The raids, in which no arrests were reported, came as the authorities blamed foreign-funded groups for political unrest in the country after an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Witnesses told AFP that police had also closed off the IRI’s office and were confiscating its equipment.