VIOLENCE REPORTED NEAR ANTINOOPOLIS AS EGYPT TEETERS ON BRINK OF CIVIL WAR

VIOLENT clashes between police and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi have erupted all around Antinoopolis as Egypt edges ever closer to civil war.

During clashes, pro-Morsi protesters destroyed guard kiosks at the entrance to at the Malawi National Museum in the Upper Egypt town of El-Minya ... and bloodshed was also reported at Mallawi.

Both of those towns are located only a very short distance from the city sacred to Antinous.

The area around El-Minya and Mallawi is a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism and recently there has been serious LOOTING AT ANTINOOPOLIS.

At least 40 people have killed this week in the Egyptian province of Minya, where Antinoopolis is located, in violence ignited by the security forces' assault on protest camps set up by supporters of the deposed president, Health Ministry officials said.

Six of the dead were policemen, according to Mohamed Abdo, head of the ambulance department. The toll was confirmed by a statement from the Minya branch of the Health Ministry. 

But independent sources say the death toll may be much higher and the clashes may be far more widespread than officials admit.

Antinoopolis and Minya are 200 km (125 miles) south of Cairo.

Meanwhile, all archaeological sites and museums throughout Egypt are closed indefinitely due to the violence which has swept all parts of the country.

The decision comes in response to violence in Egypt following police attempts to break up Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adawiya in Nasr City and Al-Nahda Square in Giza.

Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim established an emergency operation room to follow up on security measures taken at archaeological sites and museums across the country, in order to protect them from looting or encroachment.