Egypt army detains ousted president Morsi

Egypt's army has toppled president Mohamed Morsi after a week of bloodshed that killed nearly 50. Source: AAP

EGYPT'S army has detained Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after a week of deadly clashes and mass protests calling for him to go after a year in office.

His defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced Morsi's overthrow on Wednesday on state television, even as police began rounding up key Morsi aides and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Warrants have been issued for the arrest of a total of 300 Brotherhood officials, state media reported.

Thousands of protesters camped out on the streets of Cairo for days celebrated wildly at the news of Morsi's downfall, letting off fireworks and sounding car horns.

But at least seven of Morsi's supporters were killed in clashes with security forces in Alexandria and the eastern city of Marsa Matrouh, security officials said.

The official MENA news agency also reported three people killed in the southern province of Minya when pro-Morsi supporters attacked the Islamist's opponents.

Morsi and his senior aides were "under house arrest" in a military facility, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member told AFP.

The ousted president was later taken to the defence ministry, Gehad El-Haddad added. His father, senior Morsi aide Essam El-Haddad, is one of those detained.

Egypt's army is "preventively" holding Morsi, a senior army official said on Thursday.

"He is being held preventively for final preparations," the official added, suggesting Morsi might face formal charges.

Police also began arresting leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, an interior ministry general told AFP. Saad al-Katatni, head of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party, was already in custody, he added.

Morsi issued a defiant call for his supporters to defend his elected "legitimacy" in a pre-recorded speech posted online after Sisi's statement.

Thousands of his supporters remained camped out in northern Cairo, but Egyptian television stations stopped broadcasting live feeds of the pro-Morsi rally after the military announced his overthrow.

In his speech, Sisi laid out details of the roadmap for a political transition.

The Islamist-drafted constitution would be frozen and presidential elections held early, he said, without specifying when.

The armed forces, which had deployed troops and armour across the country, would "remain far away from politics", he stressed.

In Cairo, celebrations at the news began immediately.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital to celebrate, cheering, whistling, letting off firecrackers and honking car horns for several hours.

"It's a new historical moment. We got rid of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood," said one celebrator, Omar Sherif.

In an amateur video posted online, Morsi declared: "I am the elected president of Egypt" and urged people to "defend this legitimacy".

And Morsi's national security adviser Essam al-Haddad, said on Facebook: "For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let's call what is happening by its real name: military coup."

But the opposition Congress Party of Amr Mussa insisted "this is not a coup".

"Consultations will start from now, for a government and reconciliation," said Mussa, a former Arab League chief, who last year ran against Morsi for the presidency.

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, had come under massive pressure in the run-up to Sunday's anniversary of his maiden year in office.

His opponents accused him of failing the 2011 revolution by concentrating power in the hands of his Muslim Brotherhood.

The embattled 61-year-old had proposed a "consensus government" as a way out of the crisis.

But it failed to satisfy his critics and the army stepped in.

Its commander named the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly al-Mansour, as interim leader of the Arab world's most populous country.

Mansour, a hitherto little known judge, is expected to be sworn in on Thursday.

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, sat beside army chief Sisi as he announced on state television that Morsi's rule was over.

So too did the heads of the Coptic Church and Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning.

The choreography was designed to show broad civilian support for the military's move against Morsi.

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