Egyptian election timetable issued

Egypt's interim president has issued a swift timetable for the process of changing the constitution, setting parliamentary and presidential elections for early 2014.

Under the constitutional declaration by Adly Mansour late on Monday, he would create two appointed committees to work out amendments to the Islamist-drafted constitution passed under ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

A referendum on the new document would be held within four months.

Elections for a new parliament would be held within two months after that, around mid-February. Once the new parliament convenes, it would have a week to set new presidential elections.

The declaration came after clashes with security forces earlier in the day left more than 50 Morsi supporters dead. Both sides exchanged blame over who sparked the bloodshed.

It was one of the deadliest single episodes of violence in more than two years of turmoil. The toppled leader's Muslim Brotherhood called for an uprising, accusing troops of gunning down protesters, while the military blamed armed Islamists for provoking its forces.

The early morning carnage at a sit-in by Islamists outside the Republican Guard headquarters, where Mr Morsi was first held last week, further entrenched the battle lines between his supporters and his opponents. The uproar weakened the political coalition that backed the military's removal of the country's first freely elected leader.

Egypt's top Muslim cleric, the sheik of Al-Azhar, warned of civil war and took the unusual step of announcing he would seclude himself in his home until the two sides "stop the bloodshed".

The sole Islamist faction that backed Mr Morsi's removal, the ultraconservative Al-Nour Party, suspended its participation in talks on forming a new leadership for the country. The group is now torn by pressure from many in its base, furious over what they saw as a "massacre" against Islamists.

Both the military and the Brotherhood appeared determined not to back down in the confrontation. The Brotherhood accuses the military of carrying out a coup against democracy, while their opponents say Mr Morsi squandered his 2012 election victory and took the country into a Brotherhood monopoly on power.