U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday that it was too early to judge the future course of Egypt following the ouster of Mohammed Morsi.

"Very clearly order needs to be restored to the streets, stability needs to be restored, violence needs to be ended, rights need to be protected ... and the country needs to be able to return to normal business," Kerry told a press conference in Amman.

France on Wednesday called for Egypt's new caretaker cabinet to be more inclusive, saying all the country's political movements were needed for a smooth transition.

"We want the new government to be able to meet the many expectations of the Egyptian people and to make every effort to ensure the fastest-possible transition of power to a democratically elected government," foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

Gunmen attacked an Egyptian army checkpoint in the Sinai border town of Rafah wounding eight people, security sources said Wednesday, as troops massed for an offensive against Islamist militants in the restive region.

The attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at the checkpoint in a residential area of Rafah late on Tuesday, before fleeing in their all-terrain vehicle, the sources said.

The European Union's top diplomat Catherine Ashton will travel to Egypt on Wednesday to urge leaders to return to the path of democracy "as rapidly as possible".

The EU foreign policy chief will meet with leaders of the interim government and other political forces as well as civil society to "underline that Egypt needs to return as rapidly as possible to its democratic transition," a statement said Tuesday.

The United States on Tuesday denounced violence in Egypt that left seven people dead after security forces clashed with supporters of the country's ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell was careful to note that Washington was not taking sides in the turmoil, after the Egyptian army toppled the elected Islamist leader on July 3 amid mass protests.

Egypt's first government since the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi almost two weeks ago was officially sworn in on Tuesday, state television reported.

The 35-member cabinet, including caretaker prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi, individually took their oath before army-appointed interim president Adly Mansour.

Egypt's interim government voiced "strong resentment" on Tuesday at comments by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backing ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The foreign ministry expressed "strong resentment at comments like these, which... represent a clear intervention in internal Egyptian affairs," its spokesman Badr Abdelatty said.

Egyptian security forces arrested more than 400 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in one part of Cairo alone following deadly clashes overnight, a security source said on Tuesday.

The 401 arrests were all made in the central Ramses area, where two people were killed in late-night violence, the official MENA news agency quoted the security source as saying.

Israel's defense minister on Tuesday confirmed giving Egypt the go-ahead to deploy two battalions in Sinai to tackle militants in a region where deployments are restricted by treaty.

Speaking to army radio, Moshe Yaalon said he had approved a request from the Egyptian army to station one battalion at El-Arish in the north of the peninsula and one at Sharm al-Sheikh in the south.

Egyptian diplomats are working hard to reassure the world their country is still on the road to democracy despite the army's ouster of president Mohammed Morsi, a top representative said Monday.

"What we are trying is definitely to send a message of reassurance ... that we are on the democratic way," Egyptian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Wafaa Bassim told reporters.