Reporters run for cover during clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police in Cairo Egypt was under a tense state of emergency Thursday after security forces stormed the Cairo protest camps supporting ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, in a bloody assault that sparked violence across the country which officials said claimed 278 lives.
 The army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency, and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces after the violence on Wednesday.
Calm spread across Cairo as armoured vehicle and police were seen all over the city as soon as the curfew took effect .
Authorities said anybody found not to obey the curfew would be prosecuted and asked all Egyptians to help the security forces in re-establishing stability.
Gory photographs and video images of the Cairo bloodbath dominated social media networks, as world powers called for restraint and condemned the show of force by security forces.
At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging \"a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt\".
Hours after tear gas canisters first rained down on tents of protesters in the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in eastern Cairo, an AFP correspondent counted at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues there.
The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt. The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives whilst at least 2001 people were injured.
Morsi\'s Muslim Brotherhood spoke of 2,200 dead overall and more than 10,000 wounded.
 The violence prompted vice president and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei to resign, saying his conscience was troubled over the loss of life, \"particularly as I believe it could have been avoided\".
 \"It has become too difficult to continue bearing responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear,\" he said.
The state of emergency went into effect at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, with daily overnight curfews from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am.
Shortly after dawn on Wednesday, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said security forces fired tear gas before surging into Rabaa al-Adawiya, sparking pandemonium among the thousands of protesters who had set up the camp soon after Morsi was ousted in a military coup on July 3.
Men in gas masks rushed to grab each canister and dunk them in containers of water, as the main stage near the mosque of the camp blared Islamic anthems and protesters chanted \"Allahu Akbar\" (God is greatest).
Many Morsi supporters were given safe passage out of the camp, some flashing victory signs as they left through a security corridor.
A security official told AFP that hundreds of people were taking advantage of the safe passage offer, but that some diehards had stayed behind to fight on.
By Wednesday evening, a security official said Rabaa al-Adawiya was \"totally under control\", adding: \"There are no more clashes\".
In the smaller of the protest camps, at Al-Nahda square in central Cairo, police said they had control of the area after two hours.
Television footage showed flattened tents, as women and children flanked by police and army troops were led out of the square.
Dozens rounded up in the dispersal were shown sitting on the ground, handcuffed and surrounded by security forces.
Authorities later said calm had been restored across the country.
Europe\'s leading powers, along with Iran, Qatar and Turkey, strongly denounced the use of force by the interim government.
The White House said Washington, which provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in annual military aid, \"strongly condemns\" the violence against the protesters and opposes the imposition of a state of emergency.
Interim prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi praised the police for their \"self-restraint\" and said the government remained committed to an army-drafted roadmap that calls for elections in 2014.
Clashes also erupted between security forces and Morsi supporters in the northern provinces of Alexandria and Beheira, the canal provinces of Suez and Ismailiya, and the central provinces of Assiut and Menya.
In Alexandria, hundreds of angry Morsi supporters marched through the streets armed with wooden clubs chanting \"Morsi is my president\".
It was a dramatic turn of events for the Muslim Brotherhood, who just over a year ago celebrated Morsi\'s victory as Egypt\'s first elected president.
His turbulent year in power, marred by political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis, turned many against the Islamist movement, with millions taking to the streets on June 30 to call for his removal
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry led the widespread global condemnation Wednesday of Egypt\'s bloody crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, branding the events in Cairo \"deplorable.\"
The United States did not initially criticize the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt\'s first democratically elected and Islamist leader, and has avoided using the term \"coup,\" which under US law would have halted some $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Cairo.
But Kerry\'s comments, in which he called for elections, appeared to fully recant his previously expressed support for Egypt\'s military-backed government, on which he had recently backtracked.
\"Today\'s events are deplorable and they run counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy,\" Kerry told reporters.
\"The interim government and the military -- which together possess the preponderance of power in this confrontation -- have a unique responsibility to prevent further violence and to offer constructive options for an inclusive peaceful process across the political spectrum.
\"This includes amending the constitution and holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the interim government itself has called for,\" he said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had urged both sides to exercise restraint, expressed regret that \"Egyptian authorities chose instead to use force to respond to the ongoing demonstrations,\" according to a statement by his spokesman.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was deeply concerned at the escalating violence and unrest.
\"I condemn the use of force in clearing protests and call on the security forces to act with restraint,\" Hague said.
European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, in a sharpened statement, urged Egypt\'s rulers to end a month-long state of emergency imposed in the wake of the crackdown.
\"I strongly condemn the violence that has erupted in Cairo and throughout Egypt,\" Ashton said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted: \"Main responsibility with regime forces. Extremely hard to restore political process.\"
Qatar, a main backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi\'s main constituency, issued a similar message.
\"Qatar strongly denounces the means by which peaceful protesters in Rabaa al-Adawiya camp and Al-Nahda square have been dealt with and which led to the killing of several unarmed innocent people among them,\" a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Turkey -- which had cultivated strong ties with Morsi\'s government -- urged the international community to act immediately over what it said was an \"unacceptable\" response to the protests.
Iran termed the crackdown a \"massacre.\"
\"Iran is following the bitter events in Egypt closely, disapproves of the violent actions, condemns the massacre of the population and warns of the serious consequences,\" the foreign ministry said.
The Islamist movement Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood which rules Gaza, also strongly denounced the crackdown.
\"We call for an end to the bloodshed and to excesses against peaceful demonstrators,\" its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.
France, Germany and Italy refrained from apportioning blame for the crisis, calling for calm from both sides.
Russia also \"called on all political forces ... to show restraint and calm ... in order to avoid a further escalation and further loss of life.\"
Additional source: AFP