Restaurant owner Abdouh Abdel Moneim, 49, lies on the ground after he had set himself on fire near the parliament in Cairo Jan 17, 2011. This is the frist self-immolation incident following the case of Tunisia in Egypt.[Photo/Agencies]

CAIRO - An Egyptian man apparently inspired by events in Tunisia set himself on fire Tuesday outside the prime minister's office in central Cairo - the second such incident in the capital in as many days and the latest in a series of self-immolations across three nations, security officials said.

Related readings:  Egyptian man sets himself ablaze in central Cairo  Embassy keeping eye on situation  PM names unity gov't to quell Tunisia unrest  Tunisia plans unity government

They said the fire engulfing the man, identified as lawyer Mohammed Farouq Mohammed el-Sayed, was quickly extinguished. Initial reports said he was protesting what he claimed to be the failure of police to find his long missing teenage daughter, the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Tuesday's incident comes one day after protesters in Mauritania and Algeria set themselves alight in apparent attempts to copycat the fatal self-immolation of a Tunisian man.

It also follows the self-immolation of an Egyptian man on Monday, who set himself on fire outside Egypt's parliament to protest the authorities' denying him cheap subsidized bread to resell to patrons of his small restaurant east of Cairo. The typical Egyptian flatbread sells for the equivalent of 1 US cent apiece, but restaurant owners must pay five times that much. The man survived with burns to his neck, face and legs.