CAIRO (TheBlaze/AP) -- A firebomb attack on a nightclub in Cairo early Friday killed 16 people and wounded three others in a deadly assault that Egypt's state-run Nile TV reported is being called criminal and not an act of terror by some sources.

Police were looking for two young men who carried out the attack in the Agouza district because they were previously not allowed to enter the club, state news agency MENA reported, though other accounts pointed to three suspects. The men were allegedly masked during the attack.

An Egyptian forensic member checks the gate of the nightclub which was attacked in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The Ministry of Interior, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, cited an unnamed official with its Security Information Center who said a preliminary investigation showed the attack happened after a dispute between the nightclub staff and some other people, who then threw Molotov cocktails at the entrance.

Online video posted by newspaper Youm 7 showed thick black smoke pouring through the doorway of the El Sayad restaurant as onlookers milled outside unable to help. Flames were burning the inside of the building and charring the facade.

An Egyptian forensic member checks the entrance of a nightclub which was attacked in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The restaurant was on the ground floor of an apartment building. It was not immediately clear if the restaurant was also home to a nightclub.

The deadly assault comes as Egypt faces a wave of terror attacks, with the focus of these assaults in the Sinai Peninsula, CBS News reported.