Cairo: Egypt's embattled military rulers Monday said there was a plan of "systematic subversion" targeting state institutions as cautious calm prevailed in central Cairo after four days of deadly clashes.

"We detected calls on Facebook to subvert a major power station in Shubra Al Khaima (in northern Cairo) and the building of the Central Bank of Egypt," said Adel Omara, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that has been ruling the country since long-standing president Hosni Mubarak's toppling in February.

Omara also cited a plan by "saboteurs" to torch the parliament building near Tahrir Square in central Cairo.

"The armed forces have exercised self-restraint and had they used weapons (against protesters), the results would have been catastrophic," he told a press conference.

'Excessive violence'

The military rulers have come under heavy criticism from local and foreign powers for using "excessive violence" against protesters. A

video clip posted by activists on the internet showed a group of army soldiers dragging and beating up a half-naked girl in central Cairo.

"The incident is true and is being investigated. But it should be seen in the context of the surrounding circumstances," Omara added.

He said that "big casualties" occurred among policemen on Sunday as they tried to prevent anti-government protesters from attacking the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, metres away from Tahrir.

The area has been for four days the scene of clashes between army forces and the protesters in which 11 people were killed, according to government figures. However, medics at a field hospital said that three more people were killed on Monday when security forces shot at protesters in Tahrir.

Nearly 600 others were injured during the crackdown, added the medics. The Egyptian authorities denied that the police had killed any protester on Monday.

"These are untrue rumours aimed at spread confusion and sedition," said an official security source.

Later on Monday, the protesters, demanding an end to the military rule in Egypt, returned and retook Tahrir Square, the epicenter of an uprising that unseated Mubarak.

140 to be jailed for attacking Army

Prosecutors Monday ordered 140 people be jailed for four days pending further questions on suspicion of attacking army forces and vandalizing public buildings in central Cairo, reported state television. Forty-five underage suspects were released, the television report said.

Activists say hundreds of civilians have been detained by the army since the clashes started on Friday, a claim denied by the military junta.

The standoff, the worst in three weeks, overshadowed the results of the second round of Egypt's first parliamentary election since Mubarak's ouster.

Officials results, announced late Sunday, showed Islamists extending their gains in the first stage of the vote that began on November 28.

The influential Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice maintained its lead followed by the ultra-conservative Salafists. The liberal powers trailed third. Runoffs in the same stage are due on Wednesday, according to election officials.

The final round is set for January 3, with full results to be announced by mid-January.