Son of top Muslim Brotherhood leader killed

AP / RSS

Egyptians state security and army forces provide a cordon around the al-Fatah mosque, after hundreds of Islamist protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque overnight, following a day of fierce street battles that left scores of people dead, near Ramses Square in downtown Cairo, on Saturday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said today that a son of its spiritual leader was killed during fierce clashes in downtown Cairo, as hundreds of Islamists supporters of the country’s ousted president remained barricaded inside a

mosque.

The group’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, said on its official website that Mohammed Badie’s son Ammar was killed yesterday when the Muslim Brotherhood took to the streets in a “Day of Rage”. .The death toll in yesterday’s clashes rose Saturday to 173 people killed nationwide, said Shereef Shawki, a spokesman for Egypt’s Cabinet. He said 1,330 people were wounded in the fighting.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that a total of 1,004 Brotherhood members were detained in raids across the country and that weapons, bombs and ammunition were confiscated with the detainees.

Meanwhile, hundreds remained inside the al-Fatah mosque in Cairo today morning after barricading themselves inside overnight.

A post on the Facebook page of the army spokesman, Colonel Mohammed Ali, accused gunmen of firing from the mosque at nearby buildings, located at Ramses Square in central Cairo.

A Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdel-Hafiz el-Maslami, told The Associated Press that people are afraid to leave the mosque out of fear of detention or being assaulted by the crowd outside.

He said there were armed people inside the mosque but they had not opened fire at the security forces outside. He also said that armed people were waiting outside the mosque.

“We lost control over things,” the cleric said. “There were men with arms in the mosque who were forced out of the mosque but we can’t control things here.”

He said there were ongoing negotiations with the military to have protesters safely leave. State television showed small groups emerging from the mosque by late morning today.

However, local journalist Shaimaa Awad trapped with the Islamists said talks failed after three women were detained by military after agreeing to get out early this morning. An AP reporter said that thousands of anti-Islamist protesters rallied outside the mosque, chanting: “God take revenge on Mursi and those standing behind him!”

Police storm mosque

CAIRO: Witnesses say that Egyptian security forces have stormed al Fatah mosque. Local journalist Shaimaa Awad said security forces rounded up protesters inside themosque. Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported that gunmen opened fire on security forces from the mosque’s minaret.

Al-Zawahri’s brother arrested

CAIRO: An Egyptian security official said Saturday the brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri has been arrested in Egypt. Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza across the river Nile. Al-Zawahri was allied with ousted President Mohammed Mursi.

Mursi party dissolution proposed 

CAIRO: Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi on Saturday proposed the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood and the government is studying the idea, a government spokesman said. Beblawi had made the proposal to the minister of social affairs — the ministry responsible for licencing non-governmental organisations, spokesman Sherif Shawky said. “It is being studied currently,” he said. The Brotherhood was dissolved by Egypt’s military rulers in 1954, but registered itself as a non-governmental organisation in March in a response to a court case brought by opponents of the group who were contesting its legality. The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, also has a legally registered political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, which was set up in 2011. -Reuters