El-Arish: The Egyptian military aircraft pounded suspected positions of al Qaeda-inspired fighters in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 13 people, officials said on Friday, as fears rise over an increasingly well-armed insurgency that is striking with increasing regularity in the capital.
In the latest attack, bombs on a highway on Cairo`s outskirts hit a police truck.
At the same time, protests by Islamist supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi brought further violence, with clashes in several provinces.
In an eastern Cairo district, an attempt by pro-Morsi protesters to commemorate dozens killed in clashes a week ago turned into new battles with police and pro-military civilians that authorities said involved fire by automatic weapons.
The Islamist protesters had tried to set up a stage in Naam Square, blocks from the fighting last Saturday, when civilians descended on them, firing birdshot and throwing stones, participants in the protest said.
Islamists have been protesting nearly daily for months demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, and have been met with a heavy crackdown that has killed hundreds and led to the arrests of thousands since Army Chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi removed the president on July 3. The deaths have brought a new tone from protesters one increasingly demanding vengeance.
"The demands in the first months after Morsi ouster was his reinstatement," said Hassan Farahat, one of the protesters at Naam Square. "But after all the massacres, the demand now is retribution and the execution of el-Sissi."
The military-backed government accuses Morsi`s Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating violence by Islamic militants and has officially declared the group a terrorist organisation.
The Brotherhood denies the accusation, calling it a pretext for authorities to crush it.
Since Morsi`s ouster, which followed giant nationwide protests demanding his removal, Sinai-based militants have stepped up a campaign of bombings, suicide attacks and shootings against police and soldiers, along with assassinations of senior security officials.
Last Saturday, militants downed a military helicopter in the northern Sinai, killing all five crewmembers.
The al Qaeda-inspired group that has claimed responsibility for most of the previous attacks Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or Champions of Jerusalem said it downed the aircraft, posting a video of a fighter hitting a helicopter with a shoulder-fired missile. The video suggested the group has gained access to more sophisticated weaponry.
