An al Qaeda-linked cell disrupted in Egypt was planning suicide attacks on the French and U.S. embassies, the state news agency MENA reported, according to Reuters.

In light of this news and last week’s stabbing of a U.S. citizen on the embassy’s perimeter, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo alerted U.S. citizens to exercise “elevated awareness.”

“The knife attack on the Embassy's perimeter, along with weekend media reports acknowledging that Egyptian authorities have disrupted a terror cell possibly targeting Egyptian and Western interests, serve as yet another reminder of the need to exercise good situational awareness,” read a statement from the embassy, which was obtained by NBC News. 

According to Reuters, authorities announced Saturday they had captured three Egyptians with al Qaeda links, saying they had been found in possession of 22 pounds of explosive materials.

"The investigations revealed that the suspects were intending to carry out terrorist bomb operations inside Egypt via suicide operations, penetrating the security cordon in front of the American and French embassies with a car bomb," MENA said, citing a source in the state security prosecutor's office, according to Reuters.

MENA said the suspects had escaped from prison in 2011, during the revolts that removed Hosni Mubarak from power.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 2:33 PM EDT

CAIRO, Egypt -- An American academic was being treated in a Cairo hospital Thursday after being stabbed in the neck near the U.S. Embassy, prosecutors and diplomatic officials in Egypt said.

Christopher Stone, a fellow at the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) was attacked outside the perimeter of the building about noon local time (3 a.m. ET), Embassy officials said.

Police immediately apprehended the suspect and he is in custody where he is suspected of attempted murder, the Egyptian prosecutor’s office said.

Stone’s identity was confirmed by San Antonio-based ARCE. 

Prosecutors said Stone told them he had gone to the embassy to finish some paperwork for his wife when he was challenged by a young man who asked him twice about his nationality.

The suspect, who is unemployed, then stabbed the victim in the neck, prosecutors said.

According to an online biography, Stone is on sabbatical in Cairo as a research fellow for ARCE. He is associate professor of Arabic and head of the Arabic Program at the City University in New York, according to the biography on the university’s website.

NBC News' Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

Oliver Weiken / EPA

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi gesturing during an interview Saturday.

CAIRO - Islamist members of the Muslim Brotherhood were given greater influence in Egypt’s government on Tuesday when President Mohamed Morsi reshuffled his cabinet in response to demands for change.

Opposition parties and many citizens have complained of mismanagement and have urged changes, including the removal of Prime Minister Hesham Kandil.

The limited reshuffle is unlikely to satisfy his opponents or help build political consensus in the country, which is still struggling to establish a stable system in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring revolution that removed Hosni Mubarak from power.

Two of the ousted ministers were involved in crucial talks with the IMF over a $4.8 billion loan to Egypt, Reuters reported.

Nine new ministers were named, including Amr Darrag, a senior official in the Muslim Brotherhood movement’s Freedom and Justice Party, who was appointed planning minister, according to Reuters.

Another Brotherhood member, Yehya Hamed, was named investment minister, and Ahmed el-Gezawi, an FJP member, took over agriculture, lifting the movement's share to around a third of the cabinet's 35 portfolios.

Fayyad Abdel Moneim, a specialist in Islamic economics, was appointed as finance minister, replacing Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegaz, Reuters said.

Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister, former head of the Arab League and currently one of the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, said in a statement: “The cabinet reshuffle has not added or changed much. We will need another reshuffle soon."

“We need [a] national-unity-based government with high expertise so people can trust it. The challenges are huge," he added. "Therefore the current government will not be able to handle the situation. The current reshuffle reflects another complete Brotherhood-ization. Wouldn't it have been more useful to take a bigger step towards national cooperation and unity?”

Morsi announced on April 20 that he would carry out the reshuffle to replace a government widely criticized for failing to get the economy moving nine months into his presidency.

"The reshuffle is unlikely to signal any real shift in policy, particularly from an economic perspective," Said Hirsh, a London-based economist, told Reuters. "If anything, it deals a blow to demands for political consensus which the government seems to have ignored." 

Reuters and NBC News' Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

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Mohamed El-shahed / AFP - Getty Images

Muslim Brotherhood supporters throw stones towards opponents during clashes on April 19, in central Cairo.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members throw stones towards members of the anti-muslim brotherhood (top) during clashes in central Cairo, April 19.

Mostafa Elshemy / AP

Egyptian protesters clash near a bus belonging to Muslim Brotherhood supporters burns after it was reportedly set alight by anti- government protesters in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, April 19.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Muslim Brotherhood members hit an anti-government protester during clashes near Cairo's Tahrir Square, April 19.

Clashes erupted Friday between several hundred opponents and supporters of Egypt’s Islamist president during a rally by his allies calling on him to “cleanse the judiciary” of alleged supporters of the old regime. Four people were hurt the violent clashes following a call by the Muslim Brotherhood to demonstrate outside the Supreme Court. 

Tarek El Gabbas / AP

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, second right, waves at his supporters, at a hearing in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, April 13, 2013.

The retrial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was aborted on Saturday when the presiding judge withdrew from the case and referred it to another court, causing an indefinite delay that sparked anger in the courtroom.

Lawyers said that while the transfer would give prosecutors more time to draw on new evidence in an unpublished fact-finding commission's report into the repression, it could delay the case by months, increasing the risk that Mubarak, 84, may never be finally convicted and sentenced.

"Egypt cannot close the door on the former regime until there is justice for the martyrs of our revolution," said Mohamed Rashwan, a prosecution attorney and member of the Egyptian Lawyers' Union, which had petitioned to have the judge removed from the case. Two years had passed since Mubarak's fall and justice was taking too long, Rashwan said.

"The people demand the execution of Mubarak!" frustrated relatives of demonstrators killed in the 2011 uprising that overthrew him chanted in court after presiding Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah announced the decision at the opening session.

Outside the heavily guarded compound, pro-Mubarak demonstrators outnumbered opponents. The two small groups were kept well apart by a police cordon and there were no incidents.

Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years before being toppled by 18 days of Arab Spring pro-democracy unrest, waved and smiled to supporters from the defendants' cage in the courtroom before the brief hearing began.

He was flown by helicopter from a military hospital where he has been detained to the police academy used as a courthouse, and wheeled from an ambulance into the building lying on a hospital trolley wearing a white tracksuit.

Mubarak, former interior minister Habib al-Adli and four top aides face a retrial for complicity in the murder of more than 800 protesters after the highest appeals court accepted appeals by both the defense and the prosecution in January. Two other senior interior ministry officials face lesser charges.

The presiding judge was appointed under Mubarak and so were most of the current judiciary, a factor that has complicated transitional justice in Egypt. The judge said he had decided to refer the case to the Cairo appeals court as he felt "unease" in reviewing the case. He did not explain his decision further.

He had previously acquitted top former Mubarak era officials of orchestrating violence when thugs riding camels attacked pro-democracy activists in Cairo's central Tahrir Square.

"We ask for the harshest possible sentence on Mubarak due to the cruel crimes he committed against the protesters, but we are happy with the judge's decision to withdraw as we had worries about him given his ruling (on) the camel attack case," said Mohamed Abdel Wahab, a lawyer for the victims. His comment reflected a widespread mixture of relief and frustration.

COMPETING DEMONSTRATIONS

It was the first time Mubarak, who wore gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses in court, had been seen in public since he and Adli were convicted last June on grounds of failing to stop the killing, rather than actually ordering it.

Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also in court to be retried on separate charges of financial corruption.

Propped up on a gurney in a cage with the other defendants, he looked fitter and more relaxed than on previous appearances in the dock, holding animated conversations with his son Gamal, and occasionally smiling and waving to people in the courtroom.

Judge Mahmoud el-Hafnawy of the prosecutor general's office ordered an urgent medical report on the former president to determine whether he was now fit enough to be sent to prison.

Prosecutors accuse Mubarak of giving orders to Adli to open fire with live ammunition against protesters to suppress demonstrations across the Arab world's most populous country.

Mubarak and his interior minister were sentenced to life imprisonment at their first trial but the appeals court upheld complaints stemming from the weakness of the evidence offered by the prosecution.

Outside the court, pro-Mubarak demonstrators chanted "thirty years without destruction!" in reference to accusations that the Muslim Brotherhood movement which won free elections after his ouster are destroying the country.

"Look at the country now," said a supporter who gave his name as Ibrahim. "We are going bankrupt. The whole country is suffering from this economic crisis, from this lack of security."

Across the square, relatives of victims of Mubarak's security forces held posters of young men killed in the revolt.

Mahmoud Saleh, whose son Mostafa was killed during revolution, said: "He who kills must be killed. This is what we want from the trial."

Mubarak became the first ruler toppled by the Arab Spring uprisings to stand trial in person. That irked Gulf Arab rulers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of whom the former air force commander had been a loyal ally for decades.

But the case has also exposed the difficulties of justice in a country where the judiciary and security forces are still largely run by men whose positions date to the Mubarak era.

The prosecution complained that the interior ministry had failed to cooperate in providing evidence, leading to the acquittal of six senior ministry officials tried with Mubarak.

Mohamed Gomaa, 50, an IT specialist whose son Hussein, 23, was killed in the uprising, said: "Major reforms are needed in the entire justice system. Until then, we can only hope to God for a fair trial for Mubarak. I have no confidence in the judiciary."

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

A protester against former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak holds dolls depicting Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal, and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly being hung.

Related:

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Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Clashes broke out between Coptic Christians and Muslims in central Cairo on Sunday after the funeral of four Coptics killed in sectarian violence outside the Egyptian capital on Friday night.

One person was killed and 66 others were wounded during clashes that erupted in Cairo on Sunday following a funeral service at the city’s main cathedral for four Coptic Christians killed during sectarian violence on Friday, NBC News has confirmed.

Mobs reportedly attacked mourners leaving St. Mark’s Cathedral after a ceremony honoring Christians killed during the latest wave of ethnic tensions to grip the most populous Arab state.

Witnesses told local TV stations that the riot broke out after a throng of people lobbed rocks and petrol bombs at the mourners. Funeral-goers reportedly counterattacked by throwing stones at the mobs, BBC reported.

Riot police deployed around the cathedral sprayed tear gas into the teeming crowd to break up the violence.

At least 66 people were hurt in the melee, including one police officer, Reuters reported.

Mahrous Hana Ibrahim, 30, a Christian, was killed during the bloody clashes, NBC News has confirmed.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is reportedly holding meetings with key advisors to address the outbreak of violence. Morsi also phoned Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to offer his condolences and promise an immediate investigation, officials said.

Egypt's Minister of Interior, Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim, and other key officials have arrived at St. Mark's Cathedral to inspect the general security situation.

Although the clashes had subsided, police presence was expected to remain heavy into the night.

The Coptic Christians, who make up roughly 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people, have repeatedly alleged that the government has failed to protect them since former leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011.

Recent months have seen escalated tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians. But Friday’s sectarian hostilities and Sunday’s chaotic clashes represent some of the worst of the recent violence.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

People walk in front of a burnt house belonging to a Muslim after clashes between Muslims and Christians in Khusus, El-Kalubia governorate, about 25 km (16 miles) northeast of Cairo, April 6, 2013.

Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said on Saturday, in the latest sectarian violence in the most populous Arab state.

Christian-Muslim confrontations have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule.

Four Christians and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started shooting at each other in Khusus outside the Egyptian capital, the sources said.

State news agency MENA put the death toll at four.

The violence broke out late on Friday when a group of Christian children were drawing on a wall of a Muslim religious institute, the security sources said. No more details were immediately available.

MENA quoted a Christian official as saying unidentified assailants had attacked a local church during the clashes and set parts of it on fire. Police had stepped up security at the church after Muslim youths began gathering in the area.

The town was quiet on Saturday with a heavy security presence, a security source said. Some 15 police cars were patrolling the streets. Police detained 15 people.

President Mohamed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader elected in June, has promised to protect the rights of Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people.

"The sectarian riots which happened in Khusus are unacceptable and grave," Saad al-Katatni, the head of the Brotherhood's political party, said on his Facebook website. "There are some who want to set Egypt ablaze and create crises."

Sectarian tensions have often flared into violence, particularly in rural areas where rivalries between clans or families sometimes add to friction. Love affairs between Muslims and Christians have also sparked clashed in the past.

Since Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, Christians have complained of several attacks on churches by radical Islamists, incidents that have sharpened longstanding Christian complaints about being sidelined in the workplace and in law.

As an example, they point to rules that make it harder to obtain official permission to build a church than a mosque.

Last month, a court sentenced a Muslim to death for killing two people in a dispute with Christians in a southern town.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

The mother of Mohamed Mahmoud holds his clothes and cries after he was killed during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Khusus, El-Kalubia governorate, about 25 km (16 miles) northeast of Cairo, April 6, 2013.

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Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi threatened on Sunday to take unspecified steps to "protect this nation" after violent demonstrations against his Muslim Brotherhood, using vague but severe language that the opposition said heralded a crackdown.

In remarks following clashes outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters on Friday, Morsi warned that  would be taken against any politicians shown to be involved in what he described as violence and rioting.

"If I am forced to do what is required to protect this nation, then I will do it. And I fear that I might be on the verge of doing it," Morsi said in a statement. He did not elaborate.

Morsi has faced increasing anger since the Brotherhood propelled him to power in a June election, and several spates of protest have turned into violent riots.

The president's opponents accuse him and the Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era and resorting to undemocratic police powers two years after autocrat Mubarak was brought down by popular protests.

The brotherhood accuses its secularist opponents of stirring trouble to seize power they could not win at the ballot box, and says the relentless civil unrest is wrecking efforts to salvage an economy driven to its knees by uncertainty.

"They are very scary comments," said Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front (NSF), an alliance of non-Islamist parties formed late last year to oppose Morsi.

"I can see language that is heading towards taking some suppressive measures," he added.

Dozens of people were hurt on Friday when several thousand supporters and opponents of the Brotherhood fought near the Islamist group's headquarters.

RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE

Dawoud said the NSF was not behind those protests, but added that some of its members may have decided to take part.

Morsi said everyone had the right to peaceful protest, but "what is happening now has nothing to do with the revolution".

"I urge all political forces not to provide any political cover for acts of violence and rioting. I will not be happy if investigations prove the guilt of some politicians," he said in the remarks, which were published on his Twitter account.

"Some are using the media to incite violence and those whose involvement is proven will not escape punishment," he added. "Anyone who takes part in incitement is a partner in the crime."

He also spoke of attempts to portray the state as weak but said these had failed: "The apparatus of the state are recovering and can deter any law breaker," he added.

Exactly what new steps Morsi is considering became the subject of speculation.

In late January, he declared a state of emergency rule in three cities near the Suez Canal to combat a wave of violence there. A declaration of a state of emergency elsewhere is unlikely, said Yasser El-Shimy, Egypt analyst for the International Crisis Group, adding arrests were more probable.

"My impression is that Morsi and the Brotherhood in general have had it with the violence that is taking place and they are running out of patience," he said.

"This is definitely the strictest he has spoken regarding the rioting," he added. "Now Morsi feels there is enough public opinion on his side to justify taking stricter measures."

One recent source of tension between Morsi and the opposition was his call for parliamentary elections based on a controversial election law. The vote, due to begin in late April, has been postponed by a court ruling and it is now not clear when it will happen.

Morsi's political supporters and opponents signed a document agreeing to renounce violence following riots in late January.

Morsi's opponents say they are committed to peaceful protest and have also accused the Brotherhood of using violence and inciting tension in the street. The Brotherhood says the opposition has done little to rein in its followers.

Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

An anti-Morsi protester stands with the national flag after protesters burned Muslim Brotherhood buses during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo's Moqattam district on March 22, 2013.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Muslim Brotherhood supporters conduct Friday noon prayers in front of the main headquarters of the Brotherhood in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptians shout anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans during a march from downtown to the main Brotherhood headquarters in the hilltop neighborhood of Muqattam, Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013. Thousands of protesters from different areas of Cairo are marching on Friday to express their rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi's rule.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptians shout anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans during a demonstration, in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013.

By Reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of Egyptian protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed near the group's headquarters in Cairo on Friday, and at least 30 people were wounded, medics said.

Columns of riot police stood guard as chanting protesters holding flags and banners packed streets around the Brotherhood headquarters, footage on Al Jazeera and state TV showed.

Earlier in the day, Brotherhood supporters had arrived in the vicinity on buses and were showered with stones from the protesters, and Brotherhood supporters threw stones back, witnesses said. About 30 people were wounded in the fighting, Mohamed Sultan, the head of the ambulance service, said.

Continue reading.

Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images

Supporters of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood clash with anti-government protesters near the movements' headquarters in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Anti-Morsi protesters carry a Muslim Brotherhood member after hitting him during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo on March 22, 2013.

Amr Nabil / AP

Egyptian policemen write a report at a destroyed branch headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood after protesters broke in to the building in Cairo, Egypt, on March 22, 2013.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

An Egyptian anti-Muslim Brotherhood protester throws a stone towards Muslim Brotherhood supporters during clashes near the party's national headquarters in Cairo on March 22.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

An injured Egyptian anti-Muslim brotherhood protester is taken away by his comrades, during clashes near the Muslim Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on March 22.