BBC LIVE UPDATES IN EGYPT (all times GMT)

Live coverage

17h07: Reuters reports 10 people have died in clashes in Tahrir Square on Thursday, and a doctor at the square told the agency: "An hour an a half ago, two people were rushed to me with gunshot wounds to the head. They were gasping and died."

17h04: The BBC website has a feature from Yolande Knell in Cairo describing how the carnival atmosphere in Tahrir Square is long gone.

17h00: The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi says: "The power struggle at the top of the Egyptian establishment is no longer a secret. The legal measures against some of the most powerful people in the political hierarchy are the confirmation of a deep split within the ruling elite. It began over how to respond to the wave of protests demanding that President Mubarak should go. And it worsened as the protesters became more assertive, insisting that the president step down immediately. After his announcement that he wont seek re-election this autumn, the split became a struggle for survival."

16h54: Iran's al-Alam TV reports that "a group of thugs" has beaten up one of their crews in Alexandria, and intelligence agents have confiscated their equipment.

16h41: Sineh, a 60-year-old doctor who was treating people in Tahrir Square last night, tells the BBC: "I'm staying near Tahrir Square now, but I have not entered today as I have been warned that I could be attacked and my medical equipment confiscated by pro-Mubarak supporters."

16h38: State TV quotes Vice-President Omar Suleiman as saying the Muslim Brotherhood have been invited for talks with the new government. The brotherhood is the biggest opposition group, but was outlawed by Mr Mubarak's government.

16h32: BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says: "Human Rights Watch tell me 'Egypt's state repression and abuse are coming out of the torture chambers and on to the street.'"

16h31: Democracy Now! reporter Sharif Kouddous tweets: "Not as much chanting, festivity as there used to be in Tahrir. A helicopter keeps passing flying low overhead."

16h28: Update on protests in Gaza (see 14h17 entry): news agencies say hundreds of Hamas supporters are on the streets of Gaza waving Egyptian flags, chanting anti-Mubarak slogans. Hamas is seen as an ally of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood.

16h20: BBC World tweets: "Egyptian security seize BBC equipment at Cairo Hilton in attempt to stop us broadcasting."

16h17: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof tweets: "Govt is trying to round up journalists. I worry about what it is they're planning that they don't want us to see."

16h15: The BBC's Khaled Ezzelarab says the shift in focus from Tahrir Square to Abdel Monem Square appears to indicate a strategic advance for the anti-Mubarak protestors.

16h11: More from Jim Muir: He says it's hard to believe you're in the middle of one of the major capitals of the Arab world. Tanks are being used as barricades but security forces seem to have pulled to one side, he says.

16h09: The BBC's Jim Muir in central Cairo says he's in middle of pitched battle on the northern side of Tahrir Square. He says the anti-government protesters are pushing forward - lobbing stones and rock. They've moved out well beyond the perimeter of the square. Says it's a scene of complete anarchy.

15h58: Recap: There have been renewed clashes in the centre of Cairo between pro- and anti-Mubarak groups. The army had been holding a line between the two earlier in the day, but anti-government protesters then went on the offensive, pushing them out of some of the streets near Cairo's Tahrir Square.

15h53: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev adds his voice to those calling for a peaceful resolution to Egypt's crisis.

15h48: Firas Al-Atraqchi tweets: "Like millions - I am glued to Twitter, #AJE. I can't pull away to finish writing two articles - #egypt has captivated the world #jan25 #cairo. "

15h43: The BBC's Khaled Ezzelarab reports: One protestor killed in Abdel Monem Riyad Square in central Cairo, many more injured, among them three in critical condition.

15h38: Adham Helal in Cairo says: "Since the protests started I haven't slept, I haven't eaten and I haven't worked. I've been standing guard at my street. My only request is to give one month of peace and check the feedback from the government. If you still feel that you need to protest, go back to Tahrir, they will not remove the square."

15h29: Iranian foreign ministry statement reported by Iran's al-Alam TV: "Iran watches closely the developments that are stemming from a wave of Islamic renaissance in the Middle East region."

15h22: BBC Arabic correspondent Khaled Ezzelarab: Heavy gunfire heard in Abdel Monem Riyad Square in downtown Cairo.

15h20: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken to Hosni Mubarak and told him that dialogue must begin, Reuters reports.

15h18: Ashraf Khalil tweets: "Huge plumes of smoke coming from up the river past national archives. Hard to tell but could be Arcadia mall."

14h17: This update from BBC reporters in the Gaza Strip: "Dozens of university students have demonstrated outside the Egyptian consulate in Gaza in support of the Egyptian protestors.They chanted anti-Mubarak slogans, and called on the Egyptian protestors not to give up until he leaves."

15h16: AFP citing witnesses saying a supermarket on the outskirts of Cairo is on fire.

15h14: Algeria is one of the Arab states that have been affected by a wave of regional unrest, and in which leaders have been rushing to shore up their positions by making concessions - lowering prices or promising greater freedoms.

15h12: A very significant announcement reported by AFP from Algeria, too. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says the state of emergency that's been in place will be lifted "in the very near future".

15h09: Egyptians had widely assumed that Gamal was being groomed to take over from his father, though the probability of that happening seemed to shrink rapidly with the recent unrest.

15h07: There's been a flurry of announcements from the prime minister and the vice-president, but we should take a moment to pick out a key one: the first official statement that Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal won't run for the presidency.

URL du live: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698