Egypt: Death toll rises to 638, Morsi supporters still defiant

CAIRO: The Egyptian health ministry has raised the death toll from Wednesday's violence that followed a crackdown on two camps housing supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi to 638. Ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah said on Thursday that the number of injured in the previous day's violence has also risen to 3,994. Fathallah said 288 of the dead were killed in the larger of the two camps, in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district. The number of dead is set to rise even further. The death toll makes Wednesday by far the deadliest day since the 2011 popular uprising that toppled long-time ruler and autocrat Hosni Mubarak. But in spite of the spiraling violence and body count, there was no backing off by Muslim Brotherhood who called for more people to occupy the streets against the army-backed interim government. The Muslim Brotherhood put the death toll at 2,600 and the number of injured at 10,000. The Brotherhood, meanwhile, tried to regroup and called for a mass rally on Friday in a challenge to the government's declaration of a month-long nationwide state of emergency and a dawn-to-dusk curfew. US President Barack Obama condemned the violence, saying he was cancelling a US-Egypt joint military operation in protest. Obama said Operation Bright Star, a joint biennial military exercise that had been due to take place in the Sinai region next month, would not happen, and hinted further steps could be taken. The US had halted a planned delivery of F-16 jets last month. "While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed on the streets," Obama said. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to respect the universal rights of the people. We call on those who are protesting to do so peacefully and condemn the attacks," he said. Fresh violence targeted the security forces on Thursday. Security sources said at least seven soldiers and a policeman were killed in attacks in the Sinai peninsula, and another policeman was killed in the central city of Assuit. Attacks against churches and Christian properties that began on Wednesday continued for a second day, with activists saying at least 25 churches had been targeted. With the country under a state of emergency and many provinces hit by night-time curfews, the interior ministry ordered police to take tough measures after a series of attacks on government buildings. As relatives sought to identify their dead, Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad insisted protesters would "remain strong, defiant and resolved." "We will push forward until we bring down this military coup," he tweeted. Wednesday's violence began when police moved to clear two protest camps housing mainly Islamist protesters calling for Mohamed Morsi's reinstatement. The crackdown prompted clashes elsewhere in Cairo and other cities. The two camp sites have been completely flattened and bore an isolated look. A smoke plume could be seen rising over the Nasr City area on Thursday morning. Blood, torn clothes, shards of glass littered around the area bore testimony to the violence of the previous day. "My son was shot in front of my eyes. We can't take him to a hospital because they are refusing to admit patients as they don't want the figures of the injured and the death toll to go up," said Maha Aboulel Aziz, a part of the anti-coup movement, who was present at Rabaa on Wednesday. Another eyewitness said, "I was a volunteer at the hospital in Rabaa yesterday. I picked up the dead bodies of three of my own friends. There were so many bodies that we had to make makeshift morgues close by. The army came and later set everything on fire, including the bodies." He added, "I will go out and protest on the streets even if the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't call for a march." The anti-Morsi camp, which says the Muslim Brotherhood is responsible for escalating violence, is accusing Mohammed El Baradei, who quit as interim vice president on Wednesday, of succumbing to the pressure of the international community and not standing by his word of removing the pro-Morsi supporters who they say were paralyzing the capital city. Violence spread to the countryside with Morsi supporters and security forces clashing in the cities of Alexandria, Minya, Assiut, Fayoum and Suez and in Buhayra and Beni Suef provinces. TNN