Cairo: Two people were killed in clashes between Egyptian police and backers of the deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on Friday, health authorities said.
A 19-year-old student died of gunfire and two others wounded in violence between security forces, backed by local residents, and Mursi's loyalists in the city of Fayyoum in southern Egypt, the authorities added.
Meanwhile, one civilian was killed and two injured when Mursi's supporters tried to hold an anti-government rally in the Cairo district of Ein Shams, a stronghold of Islamists. Police denied they had fired at the protesters in both areas.
Followers of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood group have staged street protests almost weekly since the army toppled him in mid-2013 following enormous protests against his one-year rule. However, the protests have in recent months attracted few numbers due to a tough security crackdown.
Last December, the government announced the Brotherhood a terrorist organization and blamed it for a series of deadly attacks in the country.
The 82-year-old group has repeatedly denied links to violence and vowed to reinstate Mursi, Egypt's first elected president.
