CAIRO: Egypt's Health Ministry says at least three more protesters have been killed in clashes with army soldiers in central Cairo, bringing the four-day death toll to at least 14.

A doctor at a field hospital in Cairo's Tahrir Square puts the toll from Monday's violence at six. Ahmed Saad says all of them were killed by gunshots.

The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled. The clashes have been raging since Friday in and around Tahrir, which served as the epicenter of the popular uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February.

The heavy handed crackdown on protesters demanding the ruling military council to step down and hand power to a civilian government is unprecedented.

The ruling generals described the clashes as part of a ''conspiracy'' against Egypt.