The Egyptian army stood back as anti-regime protesters fought running battles with police in front of the interior ministry in defiance of a military curfew on Saturday, an AFP correspondent reported.
Hundreds of angry demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with gunfire, near the epicentre of five days of protests.
Witnesses said police were firing live rounds, while medics said three people had been killed in front of the ministry.
Around 10 tanks were positioned nearby, where an AFP journalist asked a senior army officer if his forces planned to intervene.
"That's the interior ministry, they're trying to defend themselves by scaring people, they want to flee but they can't. They don't even have the chance," the officer said, declining to give his name.
President Hosni Mubarak on Friday called out the army and tasked them specifically with helping police quell protests in which around 50 people have died.
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