CAIRO — Security forces on Sunday raided the offices of one of Egypt’s last remaining independent media outlets, briefly detaining its top editor and two other journalists and later releasing them, the outlet and officials said. The raid is the latest in a widening government crackdown on dissent and media.

The outlet, Mada Masr, has produced investigative pieces looking into some of Egypt’s government institutions, including the intelligence agencies, military and presidency. Such stories are not produced by other local media in the country, where nearly all newspapers and television channels are closely aligned with the government or military.

A group of plainclothes security agents stormed the outlet’s offices Sunday afternoon and locked staff inside for hours, Mada reported on Twitter.

During that time, the agents searched through staffers’ laptops and mobile phones and questioned the top editor, Lina Atallah, and other journalists, it said.

Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, said lawyers from his organization were not allowed to enter Mada Masr’s office.

After several hours, police left the offices, taking Atallah and two other journalists, Mohamed Hamama and Rana Mamdouh, to the local public prosecutor’s office, Mada said in a tweet. They were later released, according to Sharif Abdel-Koudous, a journalist at the outlet.

“They were aggressive from the beginning,” he said of security forces who were questioning the group.

Eid later said the journalists were released without being charged.

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, a local media advocate, condemned the raid and demanded the government “immediately withdraw the security forces” from Mada Masr’s offices.

Two police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the raid was due to lack of an operating license. Media are required to have permission to work in Egypt, but that requirement is often used as a pretext to silence reporting the state sees as critical. The outlet has said in previous statements that it has applied for a license but not received a response.