ONE of al-Qaeda's most militant affiliates has called on Egyptians to take up arms against their army.

A statement posted online yesterday by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant said a bloody crackdown on Islamist protesters by the army showed peaceful methods were futile.

Scores of Egyptian security forces have been killed in a series of attacks by suspected Islamist militants - mostly in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - since Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was deposed last month.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood denies any links with militants.