So bloody was the operation that the number of corpses taken to Cairo's charnel houses tripled in the space of a few hours. The death toll on Sunday evening stood at seven, but by yesterday morning it had risen to at least 33, according to mortuary officials. There is no doubt that the clashes are by far the deadliest since the revolution against Mr Mubarak and pose the most serious challenge yet to the military leaders who succeeded him – ostensibly to manage Egypt's transition to civilian democracy, something fewer and fewer believe is their intention.