The Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday that Egyptian policemen dressed in plain clothes had opened fire with live rounds at one of its marches in Cairo, wounding five people.
A security source said seven protesters had been wounded but added that it was not immediately clear who had opened fire.
Supporters and opponents of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi battled in downtown Cairo's streets on Tuesday, hurling rocks at each other as police fired volleys of tear gas. In the Sinai town of Al-Arish, three bombs exploded as the military continued operations against terrorists and tunnels to Gaza. No injuries were reported.
A military source said that all the tunnels near Rafah have been destroyed or are under military control, according to the Egypt Independent. The army is gaining valuable intelligence on the jihadists from interrogations held with captured fighters, according to the source.
The violence erupted as a proposal by al-Azhar, Egypt's leading religious authority, to bring together adversaries in the political crisis appeared to inch forward.
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood said it was ready take part in talks as long as they were on the right terms.
But the clashes showed the country was still dangerously divided six weeks after the army overthrew Morsi. Brotherhood protest camps at Cairo's al-Nahda Square and around Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque are the immediate focus of the crisis. Morsi supporters stood their ground behind barricades on Tuesday while Egypt's interim leaders debated how to end their sit-in.
No police crackdown appeared imminent despite frequent warnings from the army-installed government that the protesters should pack up and leave peacefully. Egypt’s leadership debated how to deal with the protests and decided to lay siege to the camp instead of raiding and forcibly removing the protesters.
Major General Abdel Fattah Othman, the Assistant Minister of Interior Affairs, Public