Cairo - Seven people were killed and 16 were injured Saturday when a huge rock smashed a number of houses in el Doweiqa slum area in eastern Cairo, police said.

Security forces and firemen rushed to the shanty town, where 1.3 million live in appalling conditions beneath a big, unstable rocky hill.

Inhabitants told al-Jazeera Satellite channel they have filed numerous complains in the past to official bodies complaining of rock falls that destroyed walls of their primitive houses. (dpa)