Cairo clashes with police over drug killing leave five dead

CAIRO (AFP) - Five people were killed overnight on Sunday in a northern Cairo district, as clashes erupted after a police officer accidentally killed a man while chasing a drug dealer.

The clashes broke out outside a police station in the Shubra el-Kheima district when relatives and neighbours of the dead man gathered and then attacked the police with guns and Molotov cocktails, a security source said.

Four of the attackers were killed in clashes, taking to five the total number of people dead, according to a Ministry of Health report, which added 12 others were also wounded, including two policemen and a soldier.

Clashes between police and people have increased in Egypt since the uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.