Two people were killed Friday when Muslim brotherhood protesters and police clashed in Cairo just hours after unidentified attackers shot dead two soldiers including a senior officer in the Egyptian capital.

Two people were killed Friday when Muslim Brotherhood protesters and police clashed in Cairo just hours after unidentified attackers shot dead two soldiers including a senior officer in the Egyptian capital.

The army and police had fanned out across Cairo and other cities in anticipation of rallies called by an MB group that opposes the military's overthrow of then-president Mohammad Mursi last year.

Hours before the small marches left from mosques, gunmen in a car killed a brigadier general in a shooting outside a hotel in the east of the city that also left another soldier dead and one wounded, the military and health officials said.

The assailants fled and were not identified, but protests by MB members are increasingly giving way to armed attacks amid a deadly security crackdown that has killed hundreds of people and left thousands in jail.

The murder came as police rounded up at least 145 people they said were planning acts of violence during the protests.

In Cairo's working class district of Matariya, at least two people were killed when protesters clashed with police, health and security officials said.

A health ministry official said one had been shot in the chest.

A friend identified him as Mohammed Hassan, and told AFP the dead man was an Islamist who had regularly attended anti-government demonstrations.

"The police fired randomly at the protesters," he said.

However, the interior ministry said police came under fire from the protesters, and officers arrested one of them carrying a shotgun.