Bloodshed as Cairo camps cleared, 40 bodies counted in makeshift morgue

August 14, 2013 | By hromedia | Reply More

Aug 14, – Egyptian security forces have moved in to clear two protest camps occupied by supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, with reports of many killed. The Muslim Brotherhood said more than 100 died, but the authorities put the death toll much lower.

State TV showed armoured bulldozers moving deep into the main camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.

There were also reports of violence in other parts of the country.

Authorities say the Nahda Square camp in western Cairo has now been cleared.

The interior ministry said a mopping up operation in the streets surrounding Nahda Square was under way. Pro-Morsi activists were chased into the nearby zoo and Cairo University, Nile TV said.

Witnesses at Rabaa al-Adawiya spoke of seeing dozens of bodies on the ground, and the Muslim Brotherhood described the security forces’ intervention as a massacre.

A spokesman told the BBC he had been told in a field hospital used by Morsi supporters outside the mosque that 120 people had died.

The Egyptian health ministry said seven people were killed and 67 injured.

At least two members of the security forces were among the dead and nine were injured, officials say.

The interior ministry denied any deaths were caused by its forces firing live ammunition.

“Security forces used only tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters though it was heavily fired at by armed elements from inside the two protest camps, causing the death of an officer and a conscript and the injury of four policemen and two conscripts,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, the interior ministry said security forces were taking “necessary measures” against the protest camps.

A safe exit would be provided for protesters and they would not be pursued, “except those who are wanted by the prosecution”, it said.

The interior ministry was keen “not to shed any Egyptian blood”, the statement went on.

Press journalist for HRO media – khizer hayat, contributed to this report