At least 15 killed as Egypt troops storm pro-Morsi camps

CAIRO -- At least 15 people were killed and 203 others were injured in confrontations between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the security forces during the dispersing operation that started early Wednesday at two major squares in Egypt, a health official told Xinhua.

A member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi shouts slogans as riot police clear Rabaa Adawiya square, where they are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013. Egyptian security forces killed at least 15 people on Wednesday when they cleared a camp of Cairo protesters who were demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, according to a health official. [Photo/Agencies]

"Fifteen people were killed including five policemen and 10 protesters during the break-up," Mohamed Sultan, head of Egypt's Ambulance Authority, told Xinhua.

Among the injured, 76 are security men while the rest are pro- Morsi protesters at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo's Nasr City and Nahda Square in Giza, who had been sitting in since June 28, days before Morsi's ouster on July 3.

For his part, Ahmed Aaref, spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails, told Xinhua that some 180 protesters were killed and over 7,000 injured, quoting figures he got from a field hospital.

A Xinhua correspondent at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square was told that the real death toll was bigger than that of the officially announced one, but the claim cannot be independently verified at the moment.

After the morning evacuation, Morsi's supporters marched from Boulaq el-Daqrour district near Nahda Square to Moustafa Mahmoud Square in Cairo's Mohandseen district to launch new protests, and they blocked the roads and burnt tires.

Some salafists preachers were seen at Moustafa Mahmoud Square to join the protesters, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, in the area near Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, some 40 supporters of Morsi, as claimed by witnesses, were seen on rooftops, throwing stones at policemen; while some local media said the security forces responded with heavy shooting.

The Interior Ministry has earlier denied that there were deaths among sit-inners as a result of security forces' use of live ammunition, saying that reports carried out by media outlets affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood were groundless, according to official news agency MENA.

Moreover, the police forces said they had found huge amounts of automatic weapons and ammunition in a tent set up by Morsi's supporters at Nahda Square, MENA reported.

Casualties were also caused by an explosion at a gas station near the intersection between Nasr Road and Yousef Abbas Street, close to Rabaa al-Adawiya Squre, during confrontations in the morning, MENA said.

An Alliance for Supporting Legitimacy, a pro-Morsi alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood, called on Egyptians to take to squares to prevent the policemen from breaking up the lines of the peaceful protesters.

The alliance called on speakers of surrounding mosques of Rabaa al-Adawiya to stop violence, which was launched by the "coup" forces, according to a statement published on the alliance's official Facebook page.

However, the Interior Ministry said Muslim Brotherhood leaders had been calling for attacking police stations in different governorates, MENA said, adding that Tebeen police station in Helwan and Waraq police station in Giza were set ablaze, while several other police stations in Upper Egypt were also reportedly damaged.

Cairo Metro movement is now going on normally, although some stations saw a halt for few moments. However, railway transportation across the country is still suspended.