Officials say 2 killed in new protests in Cairo

Security officials say one protester and one policeman have been killed in an anti-government protest in central Cairo, bringing to six the number of people killed in two days of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

The policeman and the protester were killed by rocks thrown by both sides in a clash in a poor neighborhood in the center of the capital.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to journalists.

Contradicting comments made earlier, an Egyptian security official said late on Wednesday the deaths were caused by a car crash and not by clashes between protesters and police.

He said a policeman and a woman bystander died after being hit by a car near the centre of Cairo. Another man was injured. The official said that the crash was not linked to anti-government protests across the city.

Egyptian anti-government activists pelted police with firebombs and rocks in a second day of clashes Wednesday in defiance of an official ban on any protests. Beefed up police forces on the streets quickly moved in and used tear gas, beatings, rubber bullets and live ammunition fired in the air to disperse any demonstrations.

There were signs that the crackdown on protesters was taking a toll on Egypt's international standing. In Washington, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether President Hosni Mubarak, the target of demonstrators' anger and a close US ally, still has the Obama administration's support.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government should allow peaceful protests instead of cracking down.

"We are particularly hopeful that the Egyptian government will take this opportunity to implement political, economic and social reforms that will answer the legitimate interests of the Egyptian people," Clinton said. She appealed to Egypt's leaders to heed calls to open political space for dissent and improve conditions that have led to widespread poverty and unemployment.

In the city of Suez east of Cairo, an angry crowd of about 1,000 people gathered outside the city's morgue demanding to take possession and bury the body of one of three protesters who died in clashes on Tuesday. The crowd later clashed with riot police and the two sides pelted each other with rocks. Protesters also threw firebombs at police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Seventy people were injured, including 15 police officers.

Later, about 300 protesters laid siege to a police station in the city's downtown, throwing rocks. Police responded by firing live ammunition in the air.

860 protestors arrested

Security officials said a total of 860 protesters have been rounded up nationwide since Tuesday, when tens of thousands turned out for the largest protests in Egypt in years — inspired by the uprising in Tunisia. They demanded Mubarak's ouster and a solution to grinding poverty, rising prices and high unemployment.

"What happened yesterday was a red light to the regime. This is a warning," businessman Said Abdel- Motalib said on Wednesday.

After nightfall Wednesday, more than 2,000 demonstrators were marching on a major downtown boulevard along the Nile when dozens of riot police with helmets and shields charged the crowd. Other smaller clashes carried on late into the night around the capital. In one of them, protesters stoned police, who fired back with tear gas from one of the main bridges over the Nile.

Reuters and Roee Nahmias contributed to this report

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