A young man was killed on Sunday in a fight over a loaf of bread in front of a bakery in the village of Salameya in the Upper Egyptian city of Naga Hammadi.
The slain man's relatives gathered in front of the hospital to which he was taken to demand an autopsy in hopes of determining the exact cause of death.
A preliminary examination of the body of 25-year-old Sameh Bedaba suggested that he had died of a heart attack. Bedaba's brother, however, has voiced suspicions of foul play.
Bread queues have recently reappeared in the villages of the area. Some residents attribute the supply shortage to wealthy locals who, they say, have been buying up bread for use as animal fodder.
In a related development, government supply police managed to thwart two separate attempts–in Beni Sueif and Damietta–to smuggle tons of subsidized flour into the country for sale on the black market.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
