PROTESTS AND SINAI CLASHES MARK EGYPT COUP ANNIVERSARY

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is leader of Egypt military coup in July 3, 2013. (Photo: Al Jazeera file)

Cairo, 17 Ramadan 1436/4 July 2015 (MINA) – A civilian has been killed at a protest marking the two-year anniversary of the military coup in Egypt, a health ministry official said.

Supporters of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood said police opened fire on protesters in Cairo’s al-Maadi district on Friday, also injuring dozens.

Two years since the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown, Egypt is in turmoil with government forces cracking down on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and heavy fighting shaking the Sinai Peninsula.

Hundreds of mostly young demonstrators held several small protests in Cairo suburbs on Friday, carrying pro-Morsi signs and chanting “down with military rule”, Al Jazeera reports as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The Sinai Province group, affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), launched unprecedented simultaneous attacks on army positions on Wednesday, and clashes has since continued in the peninsula.

The army said 17 soldiers and over 100 fighters were killed on Wednesday alone, although some security sources said that scores more troops also died in the fighting.

On Friday, the state-owned MENA news agency said 70 more fighters had been killed in North Sinai by security forces over the past 48 hours. (T/P001/NMT)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)