EGYPT: Death toll increases to 11

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Egyptian officials said Friday that 11 people have been killed and about 5,000 injured during this week’s anti-government protests.

Health Minister Ahmed Samih Farid told state television the deaths and more than 900 of the injuries had occurred within the last 48 hours, when supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak clashed in central Cairo using rocks, sticks, firebombs and guns.

Farid had previously reported eight people were killed in those clashes.

Most of the approximately 5,000 injuries this week were caused by blows from rocks and other objects, the ministry said. Farid also told state television he planned to go to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday to check on the huge crowd of protesters and coordinate with military officials patrolling the area.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske