[Reuters] Islamists attacked the offices of an Egyptian opposition party newspaper on Saturday, security sources said, as people voted on a new constitution intended to pull the country out of a growing political crisis.The newspaper of the Wafd party in Cairo was targeted with petrol bombs and birdshot, the sources said, in the latest of a series of violent incidents surrounding a divisive
...politicians call things
divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never
divisive,they're
principled...
referendum designed to pave the way to national elections next year.
The attack came as officials began counting votes after polling stations closed at 11 p.m. (1600 ET).
Official results will not come until after a second round of voting in remaining areas of the country next Saturday, but conflicting claims were already emerging from the rival camps.
A front man for the opposition National Salvation Front said it had indications that 60-65 percent of voters in Cairo and other cities had rejected the new constitution, while President Mohamed Mursi's Moslem Brüderbund allies said that after 1 million votes had been counted, 72.5 percent were in favor.
Mostafa Shafik, managing editor at Wafd's newspaper, which is located next to the party headquarters, said his offices had been damaged.
"The attackers used Molotov cocktails to enter, which left minor areas burned," he said.
A Rooters photographer saw a dozen or so cars damaged inside the Wafd headquarters' grounds, their windows broken. Glass was also broken in the headquarters, but he saw no immediate signs of fire damage. Two people appeared to have been injured.
Wafd blamed followers of Hazem Abu Ismail, a Salafist preacher, for the attack, but he used his Facebook page to deny involvement.
Violence in Cairo and other cities has marred the run-up to the referendum. Several party buildings belonging to the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice party have been burned in protests.
Rival factions armed with clubs, knives and swords fought in the streets of Alexandria on Friday. Opposition supporters trapped a Moslem preacher inside his mosque after he backed a "yes" vote in favor of the constitution.