Egypt's interior ministry says a new suspect in last weekend's deadly firebombing attack on a Cairo nightclub has been arrested.

Twenty-year-old Mohamed Said Ahmed was arrested for possessing a firearm and confessed to shooting at the club during the Friday attack along with other perpetrators, the ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday.

He is the fourth suspect to be detained over the assault that left 17 dead and at least two injured after a group of men firebombed the venue, trapping people inside. 

The attack was the result of a dispute between employees of the nightclub and a group of young men over entry to the club in Cairo's Agouza district, security sources said at the time.

Three other men under investigation in the case were arrested and ordered on Sunday to be detained for four days pending probe into the attack.