Washington (ANTARA News/AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Egyptian vice president Wednesday to investigate those behind the violence on the streets of Cairo and hold them accountable.

Clinton also stressed in a telephone call with Vice President Omar Suleiman that the political transition has to start now, a State Department spokesman said.

"She emphasized again our condemnation of the violence that occurred today, encouraged the government to hold those responsible fully accountable for this violence," spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Partisans of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stormed the Cairo stronghold of anti-regime protesters on Wednesday, sparking bloody clashes in which hundreds were injured and a soldier reported killed.

"We don`t know who unleashed these thugs on the streets in Cairo... whoever they are, there needs to be accountability here. This was clearly an attempt to intimidate the protesters," Crowley added. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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