Cairo - XINHUA
At least eight people, including two policemen, were injured on Friday as a blast targeted a police vehicle in Egypt's Sharqiya province, some 65 km north of the capital Cairo, state-run Al-Ahram news website reported.
"Six injured people were taken to Al-Ahrar Hospital in Sharqiya's Zagazig city while two were transferred to Agouza Police Hospital in Cairo," Ahram quoted a Health Ministry official as saying
The blast comes as supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi are staging on Friday anti-government protests across the country while the authorities have been intensifying security nationwide.
Earlier in the day, an Egyptian army officer was gunned down in drive-by shooting attack by unidentified assailants in Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood.
A sound bomb also went off near iconic Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Friday and the police arrested the perpetrator, reporting no casualties.
On the other hand, Xinhua photographer at Cairo's Matariya neighborhood reported earlier that two people were shot dead during clashes between policemen and protestors.
Egypt's army and police have taken high security measures and deployed across the country's main squares and government buildings due to the calls for holding massive anti-government protests on Friday by the ultraconservative Islamist group Salafist Front.