28-03-2024 01:47 PM Jerusalem Timing

Three Killed in Cairo As Mursi Backers Clash with Opponents

Three Killed in Cairo As Mursi Backers Clash with Opponents

Three people were killed as supporters and opponents of Egypt’s ousted Islamist president Mohammad Mursi clashed in Cairo after Friday prayers, security officials said, a day after five people died in sporadic violence.

Egypt ClashesThree people were killed as supporters and opponents of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohammad Mursi clashed in Cairo after Friday prayers, security officials said, a day after five people died in sporadic violence.

Supporters of Mursi have attempted to stage rallies since Thursday, the first anniversary of a deadly police crackdown in Cairo that left hundreds dead, but security forces have swiftly quashed them.

On August 14, 2013, after then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had removed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected president, police set upon thousands of his supporters at protest camps in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, leaving hundreds of people dead.

On Friday, two people were killed when pro-Mursi supporters clashed with their opponents after the weekly Muslim prayers in Cairo's western neighborhood of Faisal, a security official said.

Clashes erupted when pro-Mursi marchers set off fireworks close to shops and residences in the area, the official said, adding the two men were killed with live ammunition and birdshot.

The interior ministry said that "an armed and masked Mursi supporter" was killed by security forces south of Cairo when they intervened to break up a clash between the two groups.

Riot police later intervened and also clashed with pro-Mursi protesters.

Eight Mursi supporters were arrested and a security officer and three conscripts were wounded, the security official said.

Five people including a police officer were wounded in a separate protest in north Cairo.

On Thursday, four people were killed by gunshots across Cairo when Mursi supporters clashed with riot police and civilian opponents.

Nationwide, 193 people were arrested during protests, security officials and state news agency MENA reported.

A policeman was also gunned down in Cairo by unknown assailants on Thursday. The interior ministry blamed Mursi supporters for his killing.