22 injured in Egypt's pro-Morsi protests

, July 5: At least 22 people were injured on Friday during clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted former Islamist president

who held anti-government protests across

, a health ministry official said.

"As many as 17 people were injured in Cairo's Ain Shams area, one at Giza's Pyramids City and four at a square in Fayoum province," Xinhua quoted Mohamed Sultan, head of ministry's emergency care department, as saying.

He noted that most of the injured people have been treated and discharged from hospitals. "Only five in Cairo, one in Giza and one in Fayoum are still receiving treatment."

Also on Friday, four people were killed in a house in Fayoum when the homemade explosives that they were preparing went off, the interior ministry said in a statement. The four belonged to the currently-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group, the main loyalists of the deposed Islamist president.

Friday's protests came a day after the first anniversary of Morsi's ouster, which his loyalists marked with nationwide protests under the slogan of "the Day of Anger" or "the July 3 Uprising."

Since Morsi's removal, extremist groups have launched a series of bombings in Sinai, the capital Cairo and some other provinces nationwide, targeting security staff and buildings.

Security crackdown on Morsi's loyalists has left more than 1,000 killed and thousands others arrested over the past 10 months.

Ex-military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who was hired by Morsi as defence minister, has recently been elected as the country's president.

IANS