Soldiers enter Cairo mosque after overnight stand-off

Muslim Brotherhood outside al-Fath mosque, Ramses square on Friday Egyptian soldiers entered a Cairo mosque on Saturday where Islamist protesters had holed up overnight after a day of deadly clashes, live television pictures showed. The private Egyptian ONTV Live television channel showed the soldiers entering al-Fath mosque, while Al-Jazeera\'s Egypt affiliate streamed footage on its website of the soldiers inside the mosque.
They appeared to be negotiating with the protesters, attempting to persuade them to leave.
A protester inside the mosque told AFP by telephone that they were demanding they not be arrested, or attacked by hostile civilians who appeared to be gathered outside the mosque.
The army surrounded al-Fath mosque in Ramses Square on Friday evening. According to the Associated Press, forces tried to evacuate Morsi supporters from the mosque with each side accusing the other of opening fire.
Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters flocked to the Mosque ?on Friday and joined rallies, denouncing the crackdown on the sit-ins of Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares.
More than 50 people were killed in clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi on Friday.
Although the official death toll is disputed, Reuters said 51 people were killed in the violence, with broadcaster al-Jazeera putting that figure at 94. Muslim Brotherhood supporters accused the health ministry, which said 60 people had been killed nationwide, of not disclosing up-to-date numbers regarding the death toll. Sources at the field hospital near the square told ABC News that more than 100 bodies were at that facility alone, excluding casualties from other parts of the country.
State television pictures showed the Cairo office of the Red Crescent on fire, with officials accusing Muslim Brotherhood of carrying out the arson attack.
Earlier on Friday, a coalition of Egyptian Islamists called an end to rallies that sparked deadly clashes nationwide, but said they would press on with daily protests .
\"Today\'s rallies end with evening and night prayers (at about 1800 GMT), and will be followed by funeral prayers,\" Anti-Coup Alliance spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said.
\"There will be daily anti-coup rallies,\" he told AFP.
Egypt\'s cabinet, meanwhile, said it is confronting a \"malicious terrorist plot\" by the Muslim Brotherhood as the number of supporters of Morsi marching towards Cairo’s Ramses Square continued to increase.
\"The cabinet affirms that the government, the armed forces, the police and the great people of Egypt are united in confronting the malicious terrorist plot by the Muslim Brotherhood,\" the state said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Egyptian army, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, announced on Friday that the military had arrested 500 “terrorists” across the country, including individuals carrying weapons and others caught breaking the curfew. Sixty were apprehended while committing violent acts in Ghamra and Salah Salem in the outskirts of Cairo, he said, while 43 were caught attacking public facilities in Alexandria, 13 of whom are accused of attacking military personnel.
The Muslim Brotherhood rejected accusations of causing violence and strife between ?Egyptians.?
The movement issued a statement saying “the Anti-Coup Alliance insists on the peacefulness of their resistance, demonstrations and sit-ins.”
Also on Friday, eyewitnesses told Arab Today that clashes erupted between worshipers and supporters of the ?Muslim Brotherhood inside the Amr ibn el-Aas Mosque in Misr al-Kadeema as Islamists began pro-Morsi chants.
The army closed off al-Nasr Road starting from Azhar University till Rabaa al-Adawiya ?Square and to prevent any Brotherhood supporters form return to the square.
The security and military forces also intensified their presence in the area surrounding Nasr City ?police station to prevent any attacks  or attempts to storm the station.
A source in the Cairo Security Directorate confirmed that a police officer was killed and another was injured of in an armed attack on the al-Mirage checkpoint in Cairo.
The Egyptian Interior Ministry said security forces are implementing a wide scale plan to secure all governmental and police ?facilities, and confronting any attempts of attacks to. The Ministry said it had allowed forces to ?use live ammunition in self defence.
The Ministry mentioned in a statement that it managed in the last few hours to foil several ?attempts by Brotherhood supporters to storm a number of police sites.?
The ministry previously warned that any attempt to attack government facilities will be confronted ?with the required force within the limits of the law.
Additional source: AFP