2 killed in Egypt protest clashes

Two people were killed in clashes on Friday between protesters and police in the Egyptian city of Fayoum, security officials said, in the latest Islamist demonstrations against the military-installed regime. Supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi have pressed a protest campaign since his overthrow last July, despite an extensive crackdown that has killed more than 1,400 people and imprisoned thousands. One of the two killed on Friday, a 52-year-old man, was suffocated by tear gas during the clashes in Fayoum province southwest of Cairo. The other fatality was a woman, but the officials did not say how she died. Protests are expected to continue as Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who toppled Morsi, stands in a late May presidential election he is expected to win. Sisi is widely backed by Egyptians who want a restoration of stability, but Morsi supporters consider him the mastermind of a coup against the country's first freely elected president. Morsi's overthrow also unleashed a widening militant campaign that has killed about 500 people, mostly members of the security forces.