Egypt's military chief has called for mass rallies tomorrow to give him a mandate to confront violence following the overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

General Abdel Fattah al Sisi, who deposed Mr Mursi and replaced his Government with an interim administration, also promised yesterday there would be no retreat from the army-backed roadmap that envisions parliamentary elections in six months.

He said: "I request all Egyptians go down into the street to give me a mandate and an order to confront possible violence and terrorism."

Mr Sisi has also called for national reconciliation.

A senior member of Mr Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood movement, Essam El Erian, said Mr Sisi's appeal represented a threat.

He said it would not halt Islamist protests calling for the immediate restoration of the president.

He added: "Your threat will not prevent millions from continuing to gather."

The Tamarud youth group, which last month brought millions onto the streets of Egypt to denounce Mr Mursi's first year in office, said it supported Mr Sisi.

It wrote on Facebook: "We call on all the great Egyptian people to gather in the squares of Egypt to call for the prosecution of Mohamed Mursi and to support the Egyptian armed forces in its coming war on terrorism."

A Western diplomat in Cairo said that Mr Sisi's appeal represented a risky gambit.

He said: "We have seen an increase in violence when the two sides come together."

Mr Sisi's speech followed a bomb attack on a police station in Mansoura, 68 miles north of Cairo, that killed one person and wounded 24 others.

A Government spokesman condemned it as a terrorist attack.

Mr Mursi's Islamist backers accused security forces of conspiring to blame them for the bombing.

More than 100 people, most of them Mursi supporters, have been killed in street clashes this month. The Muslim Brotherhood says it will not resort to violence.

With many of its top leaders in jail and Mr Mursi in military detention, the Brotherhood says its supporters are being attacked by plain-clothes agents deployed by the authorities, a charge denied by security officials.

At least two more people died in early hours of yesterday morning on Cairo's streets in protests against Mr Mursi's overthrow. This followed nine deaths in the capital on Tuesday.

Mr Sisi, who was appointed head of the army by Mr Mursi last August, has emerged as a national saviour for those relieved to see the end of Brotherhood rule.

In his speech Mr Sisi said the army would never be divided, dismissing suggestions of a military schism after Mr Mursi's downfall.

He said: "This army only takes orders by the will and command of the Egyptian people.

"The coming elections will be decisive.

"If you have real weight and public opinion supports your movement, then that will be reflected in the coming vote."

Yasser El-Shimy, an Egypt expert at the International Crisis Group, said that escalating tensions risked the chances of establishing political stability in the future.

He said: "Both the authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood should recognise the urgency of negotiating a compromise out of this ever-escalating impasse."