Egypt has sworn in a new interim cabinet with not a single minister representing the main Islamist groups.

The appointments come after seven people were killed and 260 wounded in battles on Monday night between security forces and supporters of toppled president Mohamed Morsi.

Some 33 mainly liberal ministers were sworn in by Adli Mansour, the judge now in place as Egypt’s temporary head of state.

Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the armed forces chief who ousted Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood from power, becomes deputy prime minister as well as defence minister.

Hazem el-Beblawi, an economist, will lead the government as its prime minister. The 76-year-old has been given the task of implementing a road map to restore civilian rule and repair a crumbling economy.

Underlining the liberal leaning stance of the government, three women were also appointed to significant posts leading the ministries of information, health and the environment. Most past governments have had at most two women in them.

The Muslim Brotherhood dismissed the new appointments.

“It’s an illegitimate government, an illegitimate prime minister, an illegitimate cabinet. We don’t recognise anyone in it,” said spokesman Gehad El-Haddad.

The interim president had said the Brotherhood would be offered posts in the government but the group refused, saying it would not participate in the process and demanding the reinstatement of Mr Morsi.

The deposed leader came to power in elections last year after the uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

However, on July 3, the country’s first freely-elected leader was himself forced from power by the military after a wave of protests calling for him to step down.

Clashes between security forces, supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood have taken a deadly toll.

Seven people died in Cairo on Monday night in running battles involving tear gas – two at a bridge across the Nile in the centre of the city and five in the Giza district.

Security officials said four of the deaths came as Morsi supporters staging a sit-in near the main Cairo university campus clashed with residents of the area.

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