Cairo: Dozens of Egyptians angered by the absence of police protection in their town set fire to a police station on Tuesday after looting its armoury and freeing jailed inmates, security officials said.

The officials said that the crowd stormed the police station in the southern town of Garga in protest at what they said was the police's failure to protect them from attacks from a neighbouring village.

They seized the weapons to defend themselves, the official said.

The trouble between Garga and the neighbouring village of Nagaa Uweis began on Sunday after a fight between two drivers, one from Garga and the other from Nagaa Uweis, escalated into a gunfight.

The military, in charge since a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, has sent soldiers into the town to reinforce police there, the officials said.

Police, who were widely attacked during the January and February revolt, have gradually begun returning to the streets as the military tries to hand over policing duties.