Pro-Morsi crowds were still gathering in Cairo near the scene of Monday's killings, described as a massacre by Muslim Brotherhood supporters but defended by the army as a response to a 'terrorist' attack.

Egyptian media came out in solid and uncritical support of the military but key details of what happened remain unexplained.

Funerals and a commemoration ceremony for the victims were being held in a highly charged atmosphere, with the Brotherhood promising to mount a 'million for the martyrs' protest as the Ramadan holiday began. Tahrir Square in central Cairo was quiet but Morsi supporters were being kept away.

Morsi, now under house arrest, won last year's election by a narrow majority against an old-regime candidate. The president's supporters say he was deposed by a military coup. Opponents call his removal by the military a continuation of the 2011 revolution.

At Cairo's morgue mourners of those killed in Monday's violence were still waiting for their friends' bodies to be released – many still coming to terms with the horror of what happened.

www.L24.lt