Several deaths were reported after Egyptian police, backed by army bulldozers and armoured vheicles, today cracked down on two large protest camps in Cairo populated by backers of toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The state-run news agency MENA quoted a health official as saying that 13 people, including five policemen, were killed in the evacuations in north-eastern and southern Cairo, far less than the 300 reported by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Security forces said they had cleared protesters from al-Nahda square in the south. They were still clearing the bigger camp in Rabaa al-Adawiya in the north-east of the capital, where Morsi supporters have been camping to demand their president be reinstated.

Police and army troops are blockading the area to prevent Morsi's supporters from joining the ones camping there, said witnesses.

Gunfire was heard on both sides, added the witnesses.

Police arrested al-Adawiya Mohammed al-Beltagui, a senior Brotherhood official, in Rabaa, according to a security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Al Beltagui is wanted on charges of inciting violence against protesters, according to the source.

Churches torched

Security forces fired tear gas at protesters who set tyres on fire and hurled stones. State television said more than 200 people were arrested, some carrying light weapons.

Television footage showed bulldozers clearing up roads blocked by demonstrators. Riot police were seen arresting protesters, some injured. A police helicopter flew over.

Security forces blocked several roads leading to central Cairo to prevent Morsi supporters from entering the city. Rail services across Egypt were suspended. The Muslim Brotherhood has urged its supporters to take to the streets to block the evacuations.

News of the crackdown angered Morsi's backers in Cairo and other parts of the country. They attacked security buildings and blocked major roads, said local media.

Eight people were killed in clashes between police and Morsi's supporters in the southern city of Minya, reported the online edition of state-run newspaper al-Ahram, citing a medical source.

The clashes erupted following an attempt by Morsi's backers to storm a police station, according to the report.

Morsi's supporters also torched some churches in the city, reported al-Ahram.

Military: Brotherhood inciting violence

Other protesters set police cars ablaze in Assiut in southern Egypt and torched a court building in the coastal city of Ismailia.

The military-backed government asked the Brotherhood to stop inciting attacks against state institutions. The government vowed in a televised statement to deal firmly with these attacks, which it said "harms national security".

The Brotherhood has refused to recognise the interim leaders installed by the military after it removed Morsi on July 3.

"This is not an attempt to disperse, but a bloody attempt to crush all voices of opposition to the military coup," Brotherhood spokesperson Jihad El-Hadad wrote on Twitter.

"This will not bend our will or break our resolve. ... We will always stand high in the face of any tyranny."

Soldiers were deployed in central Cairo and outside key state buildings.

Armoured vehicles were positioned in the vicinity of central Cairo's Tahrir Square, blocking the traffic.

The European Union voiced concern over violence in Egypt.

"We have taken note that the Egyptian security forces are geared towards clearing the protest camps, and the reports about deaths and njuries in this respect are very, extremely worrying," European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said.

"Violence does not lead to any solutions and that's why we are urging strongly all parties to exercise maximum restraint."

The EU and US efforts to broker a deal to end the crisis have failed.

- dpa