Update | Egypt seethes under curfew after hundreds killed in crackdown

Egyptians emerged on Thursday from an all-night curfew imposed after the country’s worst violence in decades, with 370 people killed as security forces broke up protests in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Light traffic returned to the streets after a tense night, following the army-backed interim government’s decision to impose a month-long, nationwide state of emergency and curfews in 14 provinces.

Earlier, islamists clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live fire on Wednesday to clear out two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of Muslim Brotherhood resistance to the military after it deposed Mursi on July 3.

The clashes spread quickly, and a health ministry official said at least 327 civilians were killed and more than 2,000 injured in fighting in Cairo, Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million.

The crackdown defied Western appeals for restraint and a peaceful, negotiated settlement to Egypt’s political stand-off, prompting international statements of dismay and condemnation.

The Muslim Brotherhood said the true death toll was far higher, with a spokesman saying 2,000 people had been killed in a “massacre”. It was impossible to verify the figures independently given the extent of the violence.