At least six killed in new Cairo violence

Cairo,July 23 – Six people were killed in Cairo on Tuesday in violence between supporters and opponents of deposed President Mohamed Mursi, state-run media reported.

The violence broke out before dawn near a Brotherhood protest at Cairo University, where Mursi supporters have been camped out since the army removed the Islamist politician from power on July 3 following protests against his rule.

The Brotherhood described it as an attack on peaceful protesters. Police sources said hundreds of Mursi supporters clashed with local residents, street vendors and others near the sit-in. They said gunshots were fired and stones were thrown.

The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper quoted a health ministry official as saying six people had been killed and a further 33 people were injured. It brings to nine the number of people killed in political violence in the last two days.

About 100 people have died in violence since the army deposed Mursi and replaced him with an interim administration led by the Adli Mansour, the head of the constitutional court. The Brotherhood accuses the army of orchestrating a coup.

The Brotherhood said on its website a total of seven "martyrs" had been killed overnight in two separate attacks on Mursi supporters, one at Cairo University and another on a march near a bigger sit-in in the north of the city.

The Brotherhood says it will maintain the sit-in until Mursi, held by the army in an unknown location since his overthrow, is reinstated.

"Leaders of the military coup continue to terrorize the peaceful protesters in Egypt," the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said in a statement.

Some residents close to the Brotherhood's main protest area in Nasr City have filed a complaint with the public prosecutor asking for the removal of the protesters. A security source said the case is expected to be taken to a court and ruled upon soon "to give the army a legal basis to end the protests".

The National Salvation Front, an alliance of liberal and leftist parties that supported Mursi's removal from power, condemned what it described as attacks by Brotherhood supporters on protesters over the last three weeks.

REUTERS