Protester killed as Brotherhood members rounded up

Security forces secure the site of powerful car bomb explosion in Mansura Egyptian authorities on Thursday rounded up dozens of members of the Muslim Brotherhood after listing it as a terrorist group, while one person died as tensions spilled onto the streets of Cairo. A bomb blast hit a bus in northern Cairo earlier on Thursday, wounding five people and prompting condemnation from US Secretary of State John Kerry.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry had also "expressed concern" about the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Nabil Fahmy.
Kerry "underscored the need for an inclusive political process across the political spectrum that respects the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians in order to achieve political stability and democratic change".
The intensified crackdown on the Brotherhood, which prevailed in a series of polls held after the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, came after the military-installed government blamed it for a suicide bombing against police on Tuesday that was claimed by a jihadist group.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has ridden a wave of popularity since ending Mohamed Morsi's divisive year-long rule in July, meanwhile vowed to eliminate terrorism as he urged Egyptians to trust the military.
The explosion Thursday shattered the windows of a red and black bus as it passed near a busy intersection in the capital's Nasr City neighbourhood.
Construction worker Mahmud Abd al-Al described scenes of panic after the attack, saying the victims were "covered in blood" and that one man lost a leg.
Police General Mohamed Gamal showed reporters a defused pipe bomb he said had been placed inside a nearby advertising display and primed to explode when police arrived at the scene.
"It was set to go off remotely," interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif told AFP, saying the bombs were "meant to terrorise people before the referendum".
The interim government has billed the referendum next month on a new constitution as the first step in a democratic transition ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.
Brotherhood faces harsh punishment
But in the wake of Wednesday's terrorist designation, authorities announced a raft of tough new measures against the Brotherhood, which had long been Egypt's best organised political and social movement.
"Whoever leads this group can be punished with up to a death sentence," Abdel Latif told state television, adding that anyone taking part in Brotherhood protests could be sentenced to five years in prison.
Defiant student supporters of the Brotherhood took to the streets on Thursday night, clashing with anti-Morsi residents in an incident which left one person dead, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said seven Brotherhood supporters had been arrested after police intervened with tear gas.
The latest moves cap a dramatic fall for the Brotherhood since Morsi was overthrown on July 3 amid massive protests accusing him of betraying the 2011 "revolution" that toppled Mubarak by allegedly consolidating power in the hands of the Islamist group.
The Brotherhood still organises almost daily protests, despite the fact that more than 1,000 people, mainly Islamists, have been killed in street clashes in recent months and thousands more arrested, including the Brotherhood's top leadership.
On Thursday, Egyptian prosecutors ordered at least 18 Brotherhood members, including an ex-lawmaker, held on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group, state media reported.
Police also arrested 16 suspected members for passing out leaflets and "inciting the violence," it said.
Sisi meanwhile vowed to fight terrorism and called on Egyptians to support the security forces.
"Do not allow these terrorist actions to affect you," the army quoted him as saying at a military ceremony.
"If you want freedom and stability, which is not achieved easily, then you have to trust God and your army and your police."
'My country is bleeding'
The country's bitter political divisions were laid bare at the scene of Thursday's attacks, where dozens of angry men and women chanted slogans against the Brotherhood as police tried to keep them away so investigators could probe the wreckage.
"The Muslim Brotherhood people are dogs," chanted 40-year-old Fadiya as police pushed her away.
"My country is bleeding. Everybody is scared now in Egypt, even the police are scared," she said as others took pictures of the targeted bus with their mobile phones.
The Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s and condemned Tuesday's attack on a police headquarters north of Cairo, which was later claimed by a Sinai-based jihadist group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.
The Al-Qaeda inspired group has claimed scores of attacks, as Sinai militants have killed more than 100 police and soldiers since Morsi's ouster.
Authorities say there are links between Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and the Muslim Brotherhood but have offered no proof.
The allegations have nevertheless struck a chord with many Egyptians who grew to fear and despise the Brotherhood during Morsi's troubled reign and who have since called for even tougher measures against the Islamists.
"This is not the city I used to know," taxi driver Ihab Abdelmoneim said after Thursday's bombing.
"Today, I am scared of the passenger who sits in my taxi and he is scared of me."
Source: AFP