Egypt army urges conciliation after Morsi overthrow

CAIRO: Egypt's military on Thursday urged the country to reconcile and avoid revenge attacks after it toppled president Mohamed Morsi in a popularly backed move that has outraged the Islamist's supporters.

The military statement, published on its spokesman's Facebook page, came ahead of planned Islamist rallies on Friday against what Morsi's supporters denounce as a brazen army coup.

The military also said "exceptional and autocratic measures against any political group" should be avoided, even as security forces rounded up leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Morsi himself was "preventively detained" by the military, a senior officer had told AFP early Thursday, hours after his overthrow the night before, suggesting the ousted president might face trial.

"The armed forces believe that the forgiving nature and manners of the Egyptian people, and the eternal values of Islam, do not allow us to turn to revenge and gloating," the army said in its statement.