Pope Francis said on Thursday he was praying for the victims of the violence in Egypt that has left more than 500 people dead and appealed for "peace, dialogue and reconciliation".

The bodies of more than 250 people killed in Egypt's political violence are being held at a mosque in northeast Cairo, Al Jazeera's Egypt news channel reported on Thursday, showing footage of rows of corpses in white shrouds.

Churches across Egypt came under frenzied attack Thursday as the country became convulsed in violent turmoil after security forces forcibly broke up two major Cairo protest camps held by supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its allies suffered a strong blow from the state security crackdown, their central coordination has been lost and the bloodshed means anger is now "beyond control," a spokesman said on Thursday.

Churches burned across Egypt following the security crackdown on pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators. Online reports suggest up to 17 churches were burned across Egypt, along with other Christian-owned businesses and schools.

Morning Star News is reporting that a Coptic Christian girl walking home from a Bible class at her church was shot and killed last week in Cairo by an unidentified gunman, human rights activists said on Friday, August 9, 2013.

Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said on Wednesday he was only informed about the dispersal of the sit-ins in Rabaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda squares through the media.

AJC is appalled by the ongoing, targeted attacks on Egypt's Coptic community. One of the oldest churches in Egypt, built in the 4th century, the Virgin Mary in Minya, was destroyed by fire today, an Egyptian human rights activist has tweeted. Media have reported attacks on churches in the city of Suez and churches in other villages were also attacked, according to media reports.

As clashes raged in the capital on Wednesday, three churches were attacked in central Egypt, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging "a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt".

The Muslim Brotherhood is ready to take part in talks on Egypt's political crisis mediated by the country's leading Islamic authority, as long as they are on the right terms, its spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Cairo Appeals Court set a trial date for Mohamed Al-Beltagy and Safwat Hegazy for 7 September on the charge of kidnapping police personnel, forcibly detaining them and torturing them in Rabaa Al-Adaweya.

A number of key figures close to the Muslim Brotherhood who are currently in detention have had their detentions extended by 15 days.

The party denounced interim Vice-President Mohamed ElBaradei’s plan to create the 50 member constituent assembly to approve the constitution, saying that his criteria only allows for five seats out of 50 to represent all political parties.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Gehad al-Haddad has said that the Islamist group is willing to negotiate a way out of Egypt's crisis, on certain conditions.

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II has called on Egyptians to prevent bloodshed and violence, as incidents of sectarian violence in the country continue to increase.

The Salafist Nour Party demanded that the criteria set by the presidency last week for selecting the 50-member committee which will finalise amendments to the suspended 2012 constitution be revised, and rejected attempts to tamper with the "Islamic identity of Egypt."

The Salafi Jihad in Sinai and the Mujahedeen Shura Council blamed the Saturday deaths of four militants in Agraa in Rafah, North Sinai on an Israeli drone, in Sunday statements addressed to Israel, the Egyptian army and Sinai tribes.

Hundreds of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy started a fresh sit-in outside the High Court in central Cairo.

Bishop General of Minya Anba Makarios has stated that the reconciliation meeting held on Sunday between Minya's Christians and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi ended without compensation or guarantees against future attacks.

Egypt’s largest Salafi-oriented political group, the Nour Party, has stressed that force is not the only solution to ongoing instability in the Sinai Peninsula.

A number of the Egyptians in the UK have called on the UK government to put pressure on Muslim Brotherhood and deposed president Mohamed Morsi supporters to calm down and accept “true democracy.”