Almost 280 dead after Egypt police storm protests

Security forces stormed the Cairo protest camps of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s supporters in a long-anticipated assault Wednesday that officials said led to almost 280 deaths across Egypt.

In response to the violence, the army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces.

Authorities said 278 people were killed, including 43 policemen, with many of the deaths in Cairo but with the violence spreading from the capital and claiming lives across the country.

The state of emergency went into effect at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), with what will be a daily 11-hour curfew beginning at 7:00 pm.

Gory photographs and video images of the Cairo bloodbath dominated social media networks, as world powers called for restraint and condemned the show of force by security forces.

At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt”.

Hours after tear gas canisters first rained down on tents of protesters in the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in eastern Cairo, an AFP correspondent counted at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues there.

In a field hospital, its floors slippery with blood, doctors struggled to cope with the casualties, leaving the hopeless cases, even if still alive.

The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt.

The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Among those killed in Cairo was 17-year-old Asmaa al-Beltagui, daughter of wanted Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagui, a spokesman for Morsi’s movement said.

AFP