Cairo: Two senior Egyptian army officers were killed in the early hours of Friday morning as security forces arrested more than 100 Islamists ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations.
Gunmen in a car shot dead an Egyptian army brigadier general and wounded two soldiers in eastern Cairo on Friday, the military said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdul Latif said seven bombs were dismantled around the country.
The attack came hours ahead of planned Islamist protests that have prompted the police and military to boost their presence in the capital and other cities.
The identity of the assailants was not clear, but militants have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July last year.
The military said in a statement that the assailants were driving a vehicle without licence plates. Security officials had earlier said the officer was a colonel.
The Islamists’ call for nationwide rallies to topple the government and in defence of their religion is their first attempt in months to hold large protests in the face of an overwhelming crackdown since the military’s ouster last year of Mursi.
Security forces, which earlier vowed to use “lethal force,” have responded with a massive lockdown since dawn. Armoured vehicles deployed across the city while cement blocks sealed off roads leading to security headquarters, the presidential palace and the Ministry of Defence.
TV networks carried live footage of Egyptian Prime Minister Ebrahim Mahlab chairing an operations room inside the Cabinet to follow up on developments.
While previous demonstrations by Mursi supporters have played down their Islamist nature — focusing instead on opposing the coup against Mursi and restoring Egyptian democracy — the calls for Friday’s protests have featured an overtly religious tone. The ultraconservative Salafist group organising the rallies has warned of a war against Islam and urged protesters to raise Qurans in the air. The theme of the demonstration is “Muslim Youth Uprising.”
The Salafi Front posted instructions on Friday on its Facebook page, listing the names of mosques as gathering points and asking supporters to chant “God is Great” immediately after the end of prayers.
Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood group supported the protest call but warned its supporters against being dragged into a violent confrontation.
“There are credible news and reports about heinous plots by intelligence agencies, police and their paid thugs to commit massacres against revolutionary protesters and the Egyptian people at large,” the group said in a statement. “We call on all anti-coup protesters to give the criminals no opportunity to use violence or spill Egyptian blood.” Several high-ranking police and military officers have been killed in attacks since Mursi’s overthrow.
Mursi’s ouster and detention led to a massive crackdown on his supporters that killed hundreds of people and saw thousands jailed.
Many of the militant attacks have taken place in the north of the Sinai Peninsula where militants have pledged allegiance to Daesh that controls parts of Iraq and Syria.
The Ansar Bait Al Maqdis group has also carried out attacks in Cairo and the Nile Valley, including an attempted assassination of the interior minister last year with a car bomb.
