Egypt: Three killed in fresh Muslim Brotherhood clashes Published duration 27 December 2013

image caption Clashes erupted as police tried to stop protests after Friday prayers

Three people have been killed in fresh clashes between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters across Egypt.

The deaths were reported in Cairo, southern Minya province and the Nile Delta.

Some 265 Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been arrested, the interior ministry said.

Authorities have cracked down on the Brotherhood since July, when Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who belongs to the group, was deposed by the army.

The movement was formally designated a terrorist organisation on Wednesday.

A student was killed in clashes between Islamist students and opponents in Cairo on Thursday night.

Tear gas

As Friday prayers ended, riot police tried to stop Mr Morsi's supporters holding protest rallies.

A man was killed in clashes in the city of Samalut in Minya, while an 18-year-old Muslim Brotherhood supporter was shot dead amid violent confrontations in the Nile Delta city of Damietta, police said.

The interior ministry said a third person was killed in Cairo, without giving further details.

At the Islamic Al Azhar University, in Cairo's Nasr City district, police fired tear gas as demonstrators protesting over the death of the student hurled stones.

Al Azhar, one of the main centres of Sunni Muslim learning, has been the scene of repeated clashes between Islamist students and police in recent months.

There was also violence between police and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in several other parts of the capital.

A security official said protesters set fire to police cars in Cairo and in Minya. Clashes were also reported in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya.

The interior ministry said several police officers were hurt.

US 'concern'

The Brotherhood, which had been banned since September from all activity, was declared a terrorist group this week following a suicide bombing of a police headquarters in Nile Delta.

The government said the movement was behind the attack - a charge it strongly denied.

It is the latest measure taken against the group, which is being targeted by the military-backed interim government. Thousands of Brotherhood members, including its leadership, have been arrested and many put on trial.

Members were rounded up on Thursday after a bomb hit a bus in Cairo, injuring five people.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Egyptian counterpart to "express concern" about the recent waves of arrests and called for an "inclusive political process", State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.