Last Updated 2:54 p.m. ET
CAIRO A Health Ministry official says six people have been killed in clashes around the country involving opponents and backers of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, as well as security forces.
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Deadly clashes erupt in Egypt
In Cairo, a crowd of Islamists surged across a bridge over the Nile River after nightfall and clashed with Morsi opponents near Tahrir Square and outside the state TV building. One witness reports gunfire and stone-throwing.
Clashes, some involving police, erupted in cities of southern Egypt, along the Suez Canal and in the Nile Delta as Morsi supporters marched on local government buildings.
Khaled el-Khatib, a Health Ministry official, says four people have been killed in Cairo and two elsewhere, with 180 wounded.
The army shooting in Cairo came when hundreds of protesters marched on the Republican Guard building, where Morsi was staying at the time of his ouster Wednesday night before being taken into military custody at an unknown location. The crowd approached a barbed wire barrier where troops were standing guard around the building.
When one person hung a sign of Morsi on the barrier, the troops tore it down and told the crowd to stay back. A protester put up a second sign, and the soldiers opened fire, according to an Associated Press photographer.
Several bloodied protesters fell to the ground. One had a gaping, bleeding wound in the back of his head. Other protesters carried the body into a nearby building and covered his head with a blanket, declaring him dead, according to AP Television News footage.
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Many of those injured had the pockmark wounds typical of birdshot. The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, was hit by birdshot in the head as he covered the clashes. "Am fine," he reported in a Tweet.
Protesters pelted the line of troops with stones, and the soldiers responded with volleys of tear gas.
The clashes appeared to ease with the start of midafternoon prayers.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "very concerned" by the reports of violence. In a Twitter message, he wrote: "Hope calm heads will prevail, vital to avoid escalation."
The top leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, General Guide Mohammed Badie, who was taken into custody by security forces soon after the military ousted Morsi, was released from detention Friday.
Badie later delivered a speech at a rally in support of the ousted president, vowing to "gain our rights."
He led the crowd of tens of thousands in a chant: "Free revolutionaries, we will continue the path."
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Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/CKWgXF8JQ3Y/
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