Death toll in Egypt clashes soars past 600

PanARMENIAN.Net - The death toll has soared past 600 after Egypt's deadliest day since the Arab Spring began. Weeping relatives in search of loved ones have been uncovering the faces of the unclaimed dead in a Cairo mosque near the smouldering epicentre of support for ousted president Mohammed Morsi, Belfast Telegraph said.

World condemnation widened for the bloody crackdown on Morsi's mostly Islamist supporters, including an angry response from US president Barack Obama, who cancelled joint US-Egyptian military manoeuvres.

The violence has spread, with government buildings set on fire near the pyramids, policemen gunned down and scores of Christian churches attacked. As turmoil engulfed the country, the Interior Ministry authorised the use of deadly force against protesters targeting police and state institutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood, trying to regroup after the assault on their encampments and the arrest of many of their leaders, has called for a mass rally on Friday, August 16 in a challenge to the government's declaration of a month-long state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

At least 638 people have been confirmed dead and nearly 4,000 wounded in the violence sparked when riot police backed by armoured vehicles, snipers and bulldozers smashed the two sit-ins in Cairo where Morsi supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement.

It was the deadliest day by far since the 2011 popular uprising that overthrew autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak and plunged the country into more than two years of instability.