Nine wounded in predown attack in Cairo

Nine wounded in predawn attack in Cairo Attackers injured nine protesters with bird shot pellets in a predawn assault on Tahrir Square in centralCairo on Tuesday, a Health Ministry official said. Four were hospitalized with critical injuries, Dr. Mohamed Sultan said. Protesters from both sides of the political spectrum are scheduledto mass in Egypt's capital in the late afternoon to demonstrate once more for and against embattled President Mohamed Morsy. Dozens of assailants stormed the roundaboutfrom three directions at1:30 a.m., throwing Molotov cocktails and firing bird shot at protesters, said Mohamed Harbia, an activist who spent the night at the square. Two protesters were wounded in the chest and one in the groin, said Harbia, who complained that ambulances took half anhour to arrive. Tensions have run highsince the president announced a controversial decree in late November expanding his decision-making powers beyond judicial review. Morsy has since partially dropped the decree, but opponents remain on edge ahead of a Saturday referendum on a controversial draftconstitution. Islamists formulated andvoted to approve the national charter before handing it off to the general public to vote on, as representatives of other political and religious backgrounds quit the process in protes