US embassy official 'seeking to confirm' reports that young man died from chest wound during clashes in Egyptian port city
A US citizen was stabbed to death in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Friday during clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Mursi, a doctor and three security officials said.
A US embassy official said: "The US embassy has heard of the reports of the death of an American citizen and is seeking to confirm them."
The young American man died from a wound to the chest, said General Amin Ezzeddin, a senior Alexandria security official. Another man, an Egyptian, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
The violence erupted when anti-Mursi protesters tried to storm offices used by Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria, a city on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. The American had been recording the events by camera.
"There were two deaths – an Egyptian, and an American who was wounded during the events. He was filming," Ezzedin said.
"He was wounded during his presence in the events and the clashes. He was wounded in the chest, he fell unconscious, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital," he told Al-Jazeera's Egypt news channel.
The account was confirmed by Ibrahim al-Roubi, head of the emergency unit in the Alexandria health department, and by two other security officials.