Photo: Mr Morsi's backers have also called for more marches in and around Cairo on Friday. (AFP: Fayez Nureldine)
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The head of Egypt's military has called for mass protests to be held on Friday as violence continues to wrack the country.
Top army commander general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, appearing on state television, asked "all honourable Egyptians" to take to the streets tomorrow to give him a "mandate to end terrorism and violence".
Since he led a coup against Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, the general has faced large protests by Mr Morsi's supporters, led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
General Sisi, wearing full military uniform and dark glasses during his televised address to a military graduation ceremony, said he would stick to a roadmap for a return to democratic rule drawn up by the military that envisioned fresh parliamentary elections within about six months.
"The coming elections will be decisive. If you have real weight, and public opinion supports your movement, then that will be reflected in the coming vote," he said.
However the Muslim Brotherhood said the general's call was "an invitation to civil war" and raised the spectre of a military crackdown in the country.
"This is an invitation to civil war and the spilling of the people's blood in the streets," the Brotherhood said in a statement published on Facebook, denouncing general Sisi as head of a "military dictatorship".
Key points:
- Army general calls for mass protests to end violence
- Call follows bombing of police station, Cairo deaths
- Muslim Brotherhood warns of incitement to civil war
- US delays delivery of F-16s to Eyptian military
More than 100 people have already been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of the ousted president. And there have been several attacks on police and security compounds.
Mr Morsi's backers have also called for more marches in and around Cairo on Friday.
In response to the call, Egypt's public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and eight other senior members of the movement for inciting violence.
Mr Badie and other Brotherhood figures were previously detained, but released since July 3.
Mr Morsi, meanwhile, has been held at an undisclosed military facility since his ouster.
General Sisi insisted that his call for protests was not an incitement to further unrest, and said ordinary Egyptians should rally to strengthen the hand of the army and police.
"I request that all Egyptians next Friday ... go down [into the street] to give me a mandate and an order to confront possible violence and terrorism," he told a military graduation ceremony in remarks broadcast live by state media.
US to postpone delivery of F-16s to Egyptian army
Citing the "current situation", the United States said president Barack Obama had decided to delay delivery of four F-16 fighter jets to the Egyptian army, signalling deepening concern in the West over the course taken by the Arab world's most populous country.
The protests on Egypt's street played a crucial role in the downfall of American-backed president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, forcing concessions from the generals who took power from him.
Since the fall of Mubarak as the Arab Spring revolutions took hold more than two years ago, Egypt has been in turmoil, raising concern among allies and in neighbouring Israel, with which Egypt has had a peace treaty since 1979.
Bomb, gun attacks kill several militants and soldiers
General Sisi's speech followed an overnight bomb attack on a police station in Mansoura, 110 km north of Cairo, that killed one person and wounded two dozen others.
A government spokesman condemned it as a terrorist attack.
Elsewhere, two soldiers were killed in attacks by militants in the lawless North Sinai region shortly after general Sisi spoke, and four militants died in a car bomb near a police training centre in the area, security sources said.
Twenty-four people were reported hurt in clashes in the Nile delta cities of Damietta and Menoufiya.
In Cairo, two people were killed and 23 wounded when a march of Mr Morsi supporters came under fire, security sources said. It was the latest in a line of assaults targeting Islamists.
"We think that after what Sisi has said, there will be violence on Friday. He is encouraging thugs to come and attack our peaceful protest," said Mohammed Hamdi, 24, an engineering student attending a Brotherhood vigil in the capital.
"We have no guns and don't want violence. We will keep protesting the bloody military coup," he said.
ABC/Reuters
