- Two dead, 25 wounded
Two persons were killed and 25 were wounded in a drive-by shooting and clashes that erupted during Islamist protests around Egypt, officials in the security and health sector have confirmed. One of the persons that died has been identified as an Army General. Police were out in force in anticipation of the protests, which were called by a hardline Salafi group with the aim of toppling the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who led last year’s overthrow of the elected Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi.
In Matariya, a focal point for early afternoon protests in Cairo, one person was killed before security forces dispersed the crowd. Hours before of the protests, an army brigadier general was killed and two others were wounded when gunmen opened fire in a parking lot in nearby Gesr al-Suez, a release noted. But apart from sporadic outbursts of violence, the gatherings were poorly attended.
Since the army’s ousting of Mursi in July 2013, Egypt has cracked down hard on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters, arresting thousands and sentencing hundreds to death in mass trials that have drawn international criticism. Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters were also killed on one day in August 2013 when security forces cleared two protest camps in one of the bloodiest events in modern Egyptian history.
Extracted and modified from Yahoo News
