Death toll in Egypt violence rises to 421

Supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi clash with security forces near the largest sit-in by supporters of Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. Egyptian police in riot gear swept in with armored vehicles and bulldozers Wednesday to clear the sit-in camps set up by supporters of the country’s ousted Islamist president in Cairo, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out. AP/Mohammed Abu Zeid

CAIRO — An Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman has further raised the death toll from the previous day’s clashes between police and supporters of the country’s ousted president to 421.

The spokesman, Khaled el-Khateeb, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the number of injured in the previous day’s violence has also risen to 3,572.

He says the ministry was in the process of updating the latest figures and that an even higher death toll was likely.

Wednesday’s violence began when police moved to clear two sit-in camps in Cairo by supporters of Mohammed Morsi, ousted in a military coup on July 3. The clashes there later spread to elsewhere in Cairo and a string of other cities.

The violence prompted the government to declare a nationwide, month-long state of emergency.