4 killed in clashes between rivaling protesters in Egypt

Four women were killed and scores of others injured in overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, a Health Ministry statement said on Saturday. Morsi's supporters took to the narrow streets in the northern Egyptian city and clashed with hundreds of people carrying knives and weapons, the statement said.State-run Ahram website said the pro-Morsi protesters, mostly veiled women, surprisingly found themselves surrounded by thugs and had to hide in nearby buildings for three hours before the security forces managed to rescue them. On Friday, tens of thousands of Morsi's supporters flocked to main squares across the country to demand his reinstatement, slamming his deposition as "a military coup." In the meantime, Morsi's opponents voiced support for the army and its roadmap while celebrating of the victory of a 1973 war that led to the liberation of the Sinai Peninsular from Israel. A group of Morsi's supporters marched from Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque, the site of an ongoing pro-Morsi sit-in, to the premises of Defense Ministry, where central security troops, tanks and armored vehicles are heavily deployed. Some of them marched to the nearby Republic Guards House, where Morsi is allegedly detained, chanting pro-Islamist and anti- military slogans. Another group of Morsi's supporters clashed with armed forces, who fired teargas on them, while marching toward the Ittihadiya presidential palace. In the coastal city of Alexandria, skirmishes and a state of hit and run were seen, but no deaths were reported. Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim reiterated on Friday his commitment to protecting peaceful protesters in coordination with the armed forces and warned against violence and vandalism.