The government is planning to send emergency planes to Egypt to evacuate Bahrainis caught up in the political turmoil.

However, authorities are still trying to find out exactly how many Bahrainis are there. Consul at the Bahrain Embassy in Egypt Ghassan Al Muharraqi said yesterday hundreds of Bahraini students are known to study in Cairo.

“We are trying to arrange a private aircraft to take the Bahraini people back home, like Kuwait and the UAE have already done for their students,” he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

“The problem is that we don’t know how many people we will have to move.”

Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan have also arranged additional flights to take their nationals and families of diplomats out of Egypt.

Bahrain’s move comes as tens of thousands snubbed President Hosni Mubarak’s promised reforms and took their deadly revolt to the streets for a fifth day yesterday.

Twelve people were killed as fresh riots erupted in several cities, including in Cairo where three people were killed, and an enraged mob killed three policemen in the Sinai town of Rafah.

The death toll from the nationwide protests rose to more than 100 since Tuesday.

Mubarak gave the first indication he was preparing an eventual handover of power by naming a vice-president for the first time in 30 years after protests that have rocked the foundations of the state.

His decision to pick Omar Suleiman, his intelligence chief and confidant, as his No 2 is the first time the 82-year-old leader has hinted at a succession plan and may suggest he will not run in an election scheduled for September. He also appointed Ahmad Shafiq, a former commander of the air force, as prime minister.

Top dissident Mohamed ElBaradei said the appointment of a vice-president and a new prime minister was not enough to end the revolt.

On the streets of Cairo, soldiers repelled protesters who defied a curfew for a second day and attacked a central government building. But elsewhere in the city, troops took no action as people stayed on the streets despite warnings to stay indoors after 4pm.

A group of 50 people approached a military cordon carrying a sign reading “Army and People Together”. Soldiers pulled back a barrier and let the group through.

Several thousand people flocked to central Cairo’s Tahrir Square, waving Egyptian flags and pumping their arms in the air in unison. “The people demand the president be put on trial,” they chanted.

The scene contrasted with Friday, when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and protesters hurled stones in running battles.

In Alexandria, police used teargas and live ammunition against demonstrators.

Looting broke out in the capital after the widely hated police appeared to have faded from the scene, prompting the army to call on citizens to defend themselves.-TradeArabia News Service