Blast in Egypt Train as Police Crush Pro-Mursi Protests, Chase Sinai Extremists

Local Editor

A bomb blast in a train and clashes between protesters and security forces rocked Egypt on Thursday, as police quashed demonstrations marking the anniversary of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Mursi's ouster.

The violence came as the pro-Mursi Brotherhood-led Anti-Coup Alliance issued an aggressive rallying cry demanding a "day of anger" to mark the occasion.

Nine people were wounded when a bomb hidden in a briefcase near a passenger seat exploded inside a train compartment in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria late Thursday, security officials and state media said.

One person was killed by gunshot during clashes in a Cairo district as pro-Mursi supporters fought with police, while a policeman was killed also by gunshot when his checkpoint was torched by protesters late Thursday in the capital, security officials said.

Three other policemen suffered burn injuries when the checkpoint was torched.
Police closed off several main squares in Cairo and scoured neighborhoods to head off protests earlier on Thursday.

In the capital's Ain Shams district, black-clad riot policemen fired tear gas and shotguns to disperse a few dozen protesters who burned tires on a road. Police also broke up protests elsewhere in Cairo.
Thirty-nine wanted activists were arrested ahead of Thursday's protests, and more than 200 allegedly illegal demonstrators were detained during the day, the interior ministry said.

The ministry of health said at least 24 people were wounded in clashes nationwide.

The Muslim Brotherhood was listed as a terrorist group after Mursi's overthrow on July 3, 2013 and many of its leaders, including the ex-president himself, have been jailed and are on trial.

The ex-army chief who toppled him, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has been elected to replace him.

Security forces were also on high alert for further bombings, days after two senior policemen were killed when devices they were defusing outside the presidential palace exploded.
"The July 3 uprising [Thursday] will mark a start that will not stop ... and tomorrow will be an imposing Friday of rage," the Anti-Coup Alliance said in a statement calling for new protests.

Meanwhile, militants have launched scores of attacks that killed several hundred policemen and soldiers, mostly in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

And the military said troops killed 17 extremists in northern Sinai and arrested three Thursday.
Last week gunmen killed four Egyptian policemen on the road between Rafah and al-Arish in northern Sinai.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team