Four Egyptian security personnel have been killed in a drive-by shooting, security officials say.
The shooting happened in the Saqqara area, some 35km (22 miles) south of the capital Cairo.
The unidentified attackers were riding a motorbike when they opened fire on a police checkpoint, Reuters reports.
Egypt has seen regular attacks on security forces since the army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
Image copyright EPA
Belgium's police forces are looking for several terror suspects, as the capital, Brussels, endures a second day of a security lockdown.
Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the current threat was greater than that posed by Salah Abdeslam, wanted for the Paris attacks.
Brussels is on its highest level of alert amid fears an attack.
The city was a base for the Paris attackers - Islamic State militants - who killed 130 people.
The security situation in Brussels is being reviewed and an announcement about whether the lockdown should continue is expected at 1700 local (1600 GMT).
Follow the latest live developments
Abdeslam: Suspect 'meant to blow himself up'
Interview transcript: 'My brothers were manipulated, not radicalised'
Metro services remain suspended, and residents have been told to avoid crowds.
Soldiers are patrolling the streets as a manhunt continued for Salah Abdeslam, 26, a French national who lived in Brussels. Police describe him as armed and dangerous.
Friends said he was in the Brussels area and trying to get to Syria.
Interior Minister Jambon said the "terror threat in Belgium would not be over once Salah Abdeslam is out of harm's way".
"The threat is broader than the one suspected terrorist," he told Flemish broadcaster VRT.
Media captionMohammed Abdeslam, speaking to RTBF: "We want Salah to surrender"
Media captionEagles of Death Metal, speaking to Vice.com: 'They killed people in our dressing room'
It was not clear if Mr Jambon he was referring to those involved in the Paris attacks, or others who might be planning attacks in Belgium.
Life in the city is expected to be unusually quiet again during the day. The city centre was almost empty on Saturday night as restaurants and bars shut early.
The US embassy told Americans in the country to stay indoors and the US European Command issued a 72-hour restriction on travel to the city by all military personnel and contractors.
Photo; almanar
Four female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a flashpoint area of northern Cameroon on Saturday, killing five civilians including a traditional chief, the regional governor said.
One of the women attackers set off her explosives outside the house of the local chief in a village near Fotokol, a town often targeted by Boko Haram Islamists.
He and four members of his family were killed, governor Midjiyawa Bakari told AFP.
The other women blew themselves up but did not kill anyone else.
Says ‘People play politics with very serious issues’
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described as “untrue” allegations surrounding his former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) that his administration awarded contract for arms procurement to the tune of $2 billion. He said his government never awarded any contract in the range of $2 billion as alleged.
The former president spoke on Thursday in Washington DC, United States on “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania,” a conversational forum, co-hosted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Jonathan, who expressed regret at the controversies generated by the arms procurement deal, queried:
“Where did the money come from? I did not award a contract of $2billion for procurement of weapons.” President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Dasuki, accusing him of stealing around $2 billion received for phantom arms contracts.
Buhari’s order followed the submission of a presidential investigation committee report into arms procurement under Jonathan’s administration, which revealed in its interim report that it found extra-budgetary spending by the Jonathan’s administration to the tune of N643.8 billion and an additional $2.2 billion in the foreign currency component, all managed and supervised by Dasuki.
However, Jonathan while speaking at the forum moderated by USIP Senior Advisor to the US President and member, NDI Board of Directors, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, where he was the sole speaker, the former president said: “Sometimes, I feel sad when people mention these figures.” It would be recalled that arms procurement was supposed to be under the purview of the Defence Ministry but its inability to deliver prompted Jonathan to shift the task to the NSA in September last year.
It was also gathered that normally, the NSA only advises on procurement. Following the development, the NSA was said to have sought arms and ammunition from a wide range of eastern European and Asian countries as some western states, where equipment was sought previously, were concerned with possible human rights abuses.
Large orders finally arrived early this year and played crucial role in turning around the fight against Boko Haram, according to diplomats. But Dasuki in a state-ment issued on Wednesday had denied that all contracts and accruing payments were made based on the approval of Jonathan, adding that due process and military procurement regulations were followed in all the transactions.
“Nigerians should note that all the services generated the types of equipment needed, sourced suppliers most times and after consideration by the Office of the NSA, the President will approve application for payment,” said Dasuki. Speaking pointedly about his successor, Jonathan said:
“When the president (Buhari) paid official visit to the US, there were some figures that were mentioned that I don’t believe.” He also drew attention to figures like the $150 billion alleged to have been stolen in previous Nigerian administrations, but Jonathan scoffed at the probability of “$150 billion American money” being missing and “Americans will not know where it is,” adding that at any rate President Buhari did not accuse his administration. “He didn’t say my government, he said previous administration. “$150 billion is not N150 billion,” he stated, suggesting, “people play politics with very serious issues.”
The Nigerian Army has said that the Commanding Officer (CO) of a battalion in Gudumbali, which came under fierce attack by Boko Haram elements within the week, was now with his troops. The disclosure was made in a statement by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman.
The statement came against the backdrop of reports that over 100 soldiers, including the CO, were missing. However, Usman, in a late night statement on Thursday, said: “Troops operating in the northern Borno State towns of Gudumbali and Kareto had slight setback within the week.
However, the situation is being stabilised. The troops have rejoined their units for further action. “The earlier media reports were exaggerated. The CO is right now with his soldiers. It’s just a minor setback and such are common in military operations.”
Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali's capital, Bamako, witnesses say.
"Apparently it's an attempt to take hostages. The police are there and are sealing off the area," a security source told Reuters news agency.
Automatic weapon fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, AFP reports.
BBC Afrique's Abdourahmane Dia says the hotel is popular with expats working in Mali.
In August, suspected Islamist gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called for a united front by Muslim leaders to fight extremism after the Paris attacks, warning that otherwise jihadists will commit further atrocities.
Erdogan warned that “calamities will happen again” if the rise of radical Islam is not halted in Europe, after the Paris attacks last Friday claimed by the Islamic State group which killed 129 people and suicide bombings in Ankara that left 103 dead in October 10.
“We are at a crossroads in the fight against terrorism after the Paris attacks,” Erdogan told a meeting of the Atlantic Council think-tank in Istanbul.
“I strongly condemn the terrorists, who believe in the same religion as me, and I am calling on all leaders of Muslim countries to put up a united front,” he said.
“If not, those who knocked on our door in Ankara, will knock on your door elsewhere, as they did in Paris.”
Erdogan, a pious Muslim whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) spearheaded the rise of political Islam in Turkey, has long angrily dismissed suggestions that Ankara had colluded with IS in the Syrian civil war.
Turkey has supported rebel groups throughout the over four years of conflict in Syria in the hope they can help oust President Bashar al-Assad from power.
But Erdogan lashed out at any notion “that all Muslims are terrorists,” saying: “Bad people can be Muslims as well as Christians and Jews.”
“Those who demonise Islam by looking at Daesh are making a big mistake,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. “Daesh has nothing to do with Islam.”
