President Hosni Mubarak's bodyguards shot dead a man who attacked the Egyptian leader with a sharp weapon yesterday, state television said.
Witnesses earlier said the man, identified by security sources as Mr El-Sayed Seliman, was holding a written protest note and not a weapon.
The official statement said the attacker rushed towards Mr Mubarak's limousine and injured him in the hand before the guards killed him on the spot.
"While President Hosni Mu barak was driving in the streets of Port Said . . . and, as he was waving with his arm outside the car window, a man with a sharp weapon in his hand rushed towards him and inflicted a superficial wound," it said.
"Mubarak's security guards acted promptly which led to his [the attacker's] death," it added.
The statement said the chief bodyguard was injured in the finger during the attack.
State television, broadcasting footage of the motorcade live, stopped transmission immediately after the incident, which occurred while the camera was focusing on the crowds. Three shots could be heard in the background.
Mr Mubarak was on his way to the governorate's building to deliver a speech.
The president was treated for his injury and went on to make the speech, the statement said.
State television broadcast the speech live, showing the president looking calm. Witnesses said he was wearing a different jacket from that which he was wearing during the incident.
Mr Mubarak emerged unscathed from an assassination attempt by Muslim militants in Addis Ababa in 1995. His predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was assassinated at a military parade in Cairo in 1981.