Egypt investigates Morsi for prison escape

Egypt's public prosecutor orderedthe start of investigations on whether deposed President Mohamed Morsi and other senior leaders from his Muslim Brotherhood escaped from a prison during the 2011 uprising,state media said on Tuesday.

The prosecutor referred the jail break case against Morsi and 18 other Islamist leaders to a judge to startinvestigations, state news agency MENA said.

Most senior Brotherhood figures had been frequently harassedand imprisoned under President Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in apublic uprising joined by the Brotherhood in 2011.

Morsi has been held incommunicado at an undisclosed locationwith since the army toppled him on July 3. The prosecutoralready said on Saturday it was reviewing complaints accusingMursi and other Brotherhood leaders of spying, inciting killingsof protesters and damaging the economy.

The United States and other Western countries have urged theprovisional authorities to release Morsi and to halt arrests ofother Brotherhood leaders.

The military says it was justified in removing Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, after millions of peoplemarched against him. The Brotherhood has denounced what it callsa military coup. 

Egyptian army camp attacked with rockets in Sinai

Assailants using mobileanti-aircraft rockets and machineguns attacked an Egyptian armycamp in the restive Sinai peninsula near the border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding two officers, witnesses andsecurity sources said.

Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard at the camp near Rafah, the Egyptian town on the Gaza border, the sources said.

Two officers were wounded, the sources said. There was noimmediate word on the identity of the gunmen.

Hardline Islamist groups based in North Sinai, a lawlessregion bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, have intensifiedattacks on police and soldiers over the past two years,exploiting a security vacuum following the 2011 uprising thatousted president Hosni Mubarak.

The violence has spiked again since the overthrow ofIslamist president Mohamed Mursi this month. Militants haveattacked security checkpoints and other targets on an almostdaily basis, killing at least 13 people.

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