An Egyptian soldier was killed and at least two were wounded Saturday when a roadside bomb targeted their armored vehicle in the restive Sinai peninsula, security officials and witnesses said.

Militants planted the bomb on the side of a road that runs south of the regional capital El-Arish, the officials said, adding that three suspects have been arrested.

Egypt vowed on Saturday to confront Muslim Brotherhood protests with "full force," as security officials said 17 people had been killed in nationwide clashes the previous day.

The Brotherhood, which demands the reinstatement of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, has organized near-daily protests despite its designation last month as a terrorist organization.

Egypt's foreign ministry said it summoned Qatar's ambassador on Saturday in protest at Doha's criticism of the military-installed government's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated following the Egyptian military's overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi and a deadly crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement, which Qatar backs.

A driverless bus careered down a Cairo street toward riot police, smashing into parked cars as the police scrambled to safety during a protest Friday in defiance of a ban.

The protesters, who were responding a call to demonstrate by an alliance that backs ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, had disengaged the handbrake on board the bus and turned the vehicle into a weapon.

At least 13 people were killed Friday in clashes across Egypt as police dispersed thousands of protesters demanding the reinstatement of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the health ministry said.

The protests came after an Islamist alliance that backs Morsi called for demonstrations ahead of a new hearing on Wednesday in a trial of the ousted president.

The Italian navy said Friday it had rescued in 24 hours more than 1,000 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean by boat in rough winter seas.

Some 823 migrants were picked up on Thursday and another 233 were rescued Wednesday as part of a major ongoing search and rescue operation to save the lives of thousands of immigrants heading for Europe in overcrowded and rickety boats, the navy said.

Egyptian prosecutors are probing Telecoms giant Vodafone over claims a company advert featuring a popular muppet-like character contains coded messages calling for terrorist attacks, company executives said Thursday.

Vodafone Egypt says the advert, featuring the puppet Abla (Aunt) Fahita, is merely a marketing tool and has no hidden message or meaning.

An Egyptian court Thursday jailed seven activists who joined the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak for two years for breaking a disputed law banning unlicensed protests, state media reported.

The sentences were handed down on six men and a woman by a court in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the state news agency MENA reported.

Two people died on Wednesday in clashes between Egyptian police and student supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi protesting against the new military-installed authorities, security officials said.

The pro-Morsi coalition spearheading the Islamist protest movement, which has called for nationwide strike action, confirmed two demonstrators were killed.

Egypt has accused detained journalists from the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television network of belonging to a "terrorist" group, saying they had ties with the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, the prosecution said Tuesday.

"The prosecution accused the suspects of belonging to a terrorist group," the prosecution said. It was not immediately clear if all of the detained journalists, including Australian Peter Greste, faced the same accusation.