CAIRO, Mar 5 (Aswat Masriya) - The Cairo Criminal Court began on Thursday the trial of 213 alleged members of the militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, accusing them of assassinating policemen and bombing security facilities.

The court postponed on Thursday the trial until April 4.

Egypt's top prosecutor announced referring 200 alleged militants to trial in a statement in May 2014. He accused the defendants of carrying out 51 "acts of terrorism," which have left 40 police personnel and 15 civilians dead.

Thirteen more defendants were added to the case in January.

Of the defendants, 143 are being tried in session. The rest are tried in absentia.

All defendants face the charges of "establishing, leading and joining a terrorist group, assaulting citizens' rights and freedoms, harming national unity and societal peace, spying for the Palestinian Hamas Movement, vandalising state institutions, murder and possession of automatic weapons, ammunition and explosives.

The defendants are also accused of complicity in an attempt on Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's life in September 2013.

Ansar has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on Egyptian security forces, including two major attacks in Sinai in October 2014 and January, which left dozens of security personnel killed.   

Ansar pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria in a video released in November 2014, after Islamic State fighters gained control over large areas of Iraq and Syria over the summer of 2014.