CAIRO: Cairo's streets exploded in joy on Friday when President Hosni Mubarak stepped down after three-decades of autocratic rule and handed power to a junta of senior military commanders.

A grim-faced and ashen Vice President Omar Suleiman announced the handover on state television after an extraordinary national outpouring of rage brought more than a million furious demonstrators onto the streets.

“Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state's affairs,” Suleiman said.

Al Arabiya television reported that Egypt's higher military council will sack the cabinet, suspend both houses of parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court.

The army statement was expected to be delivered later on Friday and followed President Hosni Mubarak's dramatic resignation after 30 years in power.

Earlier, the 82-year-old strongman had flown out of Cairo to his holiday retreat at Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea, his ruling party said.

As news spread cries of “Allahu Akbar” —God is greatest! —and howls of victory rang out in the streets of the capital and firecrackers exploded.

In Tahrir Square several protesters fainted with the emotion of the moment following two weeks of protest.

The plaza has become a focal point of the revolt since it was occupied by protesters in late January, and earlier in the day had been thronged by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, who prayed and chanted abuse at Mubarak.

“People here don't care if he's in the palace or not. We want him to quit the presidency,” said 40-year-old Mohammed Hamdan, who works for an oil firm, as he joined the protest outside Mubarak's palace in the Cairo suburbs.

“He has to leave the country, our demands are clear, we want the entire NDP to be dissolved and to get out because they have destroyed the country,” said Magdi Sabri, a smartly dressed middle-aged man outside state television.

In a show of solidarity in at least lower levels of the army, three Egyptian officers shed their weapons and uniforms and joined the protesters.

An impassioned preacher addressed the military in his sermon, exhorting them to “act in a way that will be acceptable to God on judgement day,” shortly before fainting and being carried away through the crowd.

INTERNATIONAL REACTIONEurope welcomed Mubarak's decision to stand down, saying he had “listened to the voices of the Egyptian people” and opened the way to reform.

European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said that by departing, Mubarak had “opened the way to faster and deeper reforms.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli government official said that his country hopes that the transition of power in Egypt after the departure of the president will be conducted “smoothly.”

Iran said that Egyptians have achieved a “great victory.”