( CNN ) -- A journalist was among three people killed Friday during clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Egyptian security forces in eastern Cairo , Egypt 's Interior Ministry said . Mayada Ashraf was fatally shot , according to her employer , the private Egyptian newspaper Al-Dustour . She was covering the fighting when she was killed , the state-run Middle East News Agency reported . The clashes involved people who were protesting this week 's decision by Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to resign from the military and run for president , semiofficial news outlet Ahram Online reported . The demonstrators were supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy , a former Muslim Brotherhood leader , Ahram Online said . Ashraf was in her 20s and graduated from college last year , according to Al-Dustour . Definitive information on who shot her was n't immediately available . A representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Egyptian government Friday to open an independent and impartial investigation into Ashraf 's death . The organization noted that opposing groups -- those supporting the army , and those supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood -- were blaming each other for the killing . `` A journalist 's death should not be used to settle political scores -- the focus should be on journalists ' right to safely cover events in Egypt , '' said Sherif Mansour , the CPJ 's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator . Protests similar to that in eastern Cairo happened across the country on Friday , Ahram Online reported . El-Sisi 's decision is just one of the latest grievances expressed by Morsy supporters . El-Sisi deposed Morsy last year following mass protests against Morsy 's rule . Morsy became Egypt 's first freely elected leader in 2012 , a year after a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak 's three decades of one-man rule . El-Sisi is popular among Egyptians who supported the army 's decision to remove Morsy from power a year into his term -- seeing him as the kind of strong man needed to end the turmoil dogging Egypt since Mubarak 's 2011 ouster . But El-Sisi is reviled by the Islamist opposition , which sees him as the mastermind of a coup against an elected leader and the author of a fierce crackdown on dissent . Egypt has suffered bloody internal strife since Morsy was overthrown . On Wednesday , police clashed with protesters at Cairo University who were demonstrating against a court 's decision to sentence 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death . In a separate report , Al-Ahram quoted the health ministry as saying one person was killed and eight injured in the clashes . Monday 's court ruling drew widespread criticism from international human rights groups .
Mayada Ashraf was killed while covering clashes , state-run news outlet reports . Committee to Protect Journalists calls for independent investigation . Clashes happened during protests of army chief 's decision to run for president .