CAIRO, Oct 26 (Aswat Masriya) - A U.S. court convicted two Egyptian women on Tuesday of joining an online group that raises funds in support of the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab.

Evidence presented to a U.S. court showed that the Egyptian women led the "Group of Fifteen" that includes women from eight different countries.

The group helped finance al-shabab military operations and safehouses in Somalia and Kenya, Reuters reported.

Mona Osman, 36, and Hinda Osman Zahran, 46, were arrested in July 2014 on accusations of funneling money to a terrorist organisation "which was conducting a violent insurgency campaign in Somalia."

A third woman, Farha Hassan, was arrested in the Netherlands in relation to the case.

Prosecutors said the money raised was sent through the chat room to financiers of al-Shabab in Somalia and Kenya.

The women can face up to 15 years in prison when they are sentenced in January, according to Reuters. 

The "Group of Fifteen" included women from Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as Minneapolis, according to evidence at trial.

The al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab conducts repeated attacks against the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers in an attempt to topple the government.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on a guesthouse in the town of Mandera, Kenya that killed at least 12 people on Tuesday.

Egypt condemned the attack.