3 killed in Egypt as Islamists protest

MARIAM RIZK
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — At least three people were killed in the Egyptian capital Friday as dozens of supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi held scattered protests for a second straight day, a year after the mass killing of protesters at two Cairo sit-ins.

Clashes erupted at one protest between Morsi supporters and local residents. Two people were killed in the fighting and four police were wounded as they tried to disperse the crowd in the Giza district, according to security officials.

At another protest in Giza, demonstrators fired birdshot, set off fireworks and tried to block a road. One of the protesters was killed when police moved in to disperse the group, a statement from the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police said. The ministry said he was armed.

In a third incident, protesters torched a public bus in a Cairo suburb after forcing the driver and passengers out. Police arrested at least 14 protesters at the events, the security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press.

The Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group, said on its website that the death toll climbed to six “martyrs” after clashes broke out in the Matariya district between protesters and riot police.

The violence came one day after the anniversary of the forceful dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed. Clashes at small, scattered demonstrations on Thursday left four people dead, the Health Ministry said.

Morsi supporters have held regular demonstrations since the military overthrew him last summer amid massive protests against his year in power. Their numbers, however, have dwindled in the face of a massive crackdown that has seen hundreds of protesters killed in street clashes and tens of thousands detained.

Since Morsi’s ouster the country has also seen a wave of militant attacks mainly targeting security forces. The government has blamed the violence on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood — now branded a terrorist group — and its allies. The Brotherhood has denied any involvement, and the most deadly attacks have been claimed by radical Islamist groups.

Egypt’s official news agency reported late Friday that explosive experts were dismantling a bomb found inside a train coming from second city Alexandria to Cairo. Authorities ordered the evacuation of the area around the central Cairo station and directed trains away from it.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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