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Egyptian Soldiers Said to Kill Dozens Army Kills 51, Deepening Crisis in Egypt
(about 4 hours later)
CAIRO — Egyptian soldiers fired on hundreds of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi before dawn Monday as they were praying outside the facility where he was believed to be detained, dozens of witnesses said. Egypt’s military said armed assailants fired on the soldiers first. CAIRO — Soldiers and police officers fired on hundreds of supporters of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s ousted Islamist president, as they prayed before dawn on Monday during a protest outside the facility where he is believed to be detained, sharply escalating the nearly week-old crisis convulsing the country and further dimming any hope for a political reconciliation.
At least 51 civilians were killed, all or most of them shot, and more than 300 wounded, doctors and health officials said. Security officials said at least one police officer died as well. At least 51 civilian demonstrators were killed and more than 300 were wounded, all or almost all of them by gunfire, health officials said. Dozens of witnesses said the soldiers and police officers had opened fire unprovoked, an assertion that was immediately challenged by the military authorities.
The mass shooting was the deadliest single episode of violence since the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s longtime autocratic leader. It immediately escalated the nearly week-old confrontation between the generals who forced out Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, and Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters in the streets. Spokesmen for the army and the police said in a news conference held to defend their use of deadly force that they were attacked first, and that two soldiers and two policemen had also been killed, although witnesses said one of the policemen was killed by a soldier’s gunfire.
In an early sign that the mass shooting had undercut important support for the military’s ouster of Mr. Morsi, the country’s top Muslim cleric, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb, threatened to go into seclusion until the violence ended. The grand imam, who participated in talks on a post-Morsi transitional government, said in a statement broadcast on Egyptian state television: “I might be forced to enter into a retreat in my home until everyone takes responsibility for protecting the sanctity of blood and preventing the country from a civil war.” It was by far the deadliest violence here since the final days of President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011 when his riot police fought their last stand against the protesters demanding his ouster.
The military said its soldiers had fired in response to an attack by gunmen from a “terrorist group” who had attempted to storm the facility, according to Ahram Online, the Web site of Egypt’s leading newspaper. But whereas that battle signaled the fall of a dictator, the significance of Monday’s carnage was as bitterly contested as the future of Egypt has now become since military commanders deposed Mr. Morsi last Wednesday after one year in office.
Dozens of Islamists who had gathered to hold a vigil for Mr. Morsi denied there was any provocation for the attack. Two bystanders who had supported Mr. Morsi’s ouster said that the demonstrators were unarmed and ran in terror as the attack began. Mr. Morsi’s Islamist supporters said that the generals had now shown their authoritarian colors, using lethal force to crush dissent while holding captive the freely elected president, and his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood renewed vows to die before accepting that outcome.
Bullet holes in cars, lampposts and corrugated metal barriers indicated that gunfire was coming from the top of a nearby building where the sandbag barriers around makeshift gun emplacements were visible. Bullet casings on the ground and collected by Islamist demonstrators bore the stamp of the Egyptian Army. The only Islamist party that had broken with the Brotherhood to back Mr. Morsi’s military’s takeover called it a “massacre” and suspended its participation in the interim government, accelerating the disintegration of Egyptian politics into a culture war between Islamists and their foes.
But Egyptian state television showed film of a pro-Morsi protester firing what appeared to be a homemade handgun at advancing soldiers from behind a corner about 250 yards away. The footage was in daylight, hours after the initial shooting began. The armed forces, on the other hand, claimed that Mr. Morsi’s supporters had attacked them first with rocks, gunfire, and army-issue tear gas bombs, though dozens of witnesses — including some of Mr. Morsi’s opponents — disputed that account.
A witness who lived nearby said he saw two men with similar weapons among the protesters. The police, who had never fully accepted Mr. Morsi’s authority, claimed vindication, charging that Mr. Morsi’s Islamist allies, and not the police, were the ones who had killed protesters during the revolt against Mr. Mubarak.
Another clip broadcast on state television, also in daylight and so hours after the attack had begun, showed a masked man among the pro-Morsi demonstrators. And civilian leaders of the coalition that backed Mr. Morsi’s ouster, including many who spent 2012 denouncing military rule, said little about the disproportionate force used by the army and police. “Violence begets violence and should be strongly condemned,” Mohamed ElBaradei, the former diplomat and liberal leader, said in statement on Twitter. “Independent investigation is a must.”
The protesters, witnesses and video footage all appeared to portray the pro-Morsi demonstrators as attempting to fight back against the soldiers by throwing rocks. The United States government joined international expressions of shock and dismay at the violence. But the Obama administration, which provides $1.5 billion a year in aid to Egypt, mostly for the military, gave no indication that it would terminate the assistance. Nor did the administration specifically blame one side or the other for the killings.
Early in the morning, Egyptian state media sent out a news alert saying that an army lieutenant had been killed and 200 “armed individuals” were captured, then hours later reported that there were also dozens of civilian casualties. “This is a situation where it’s very volatile on the ground. There are lots of parties contributing to that volatility,” Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters in Washington. “We have been urging and continue to urge both publicly and privately the military to use maximum restraint in how they’re behaving.”
There were pools of blood on the pavement. Some of the blood and bullet holes were hundreds of yards from the walls of the facility’s guard house, suggesting that the soldiers continued firing as the demonstrators fled. All agree that the violence began shortly before 4 a.m., when the Islamists who had gathered in a vigil for Mr. Morsi outside the presidential guard facility were observing predawn prayers. But it was unclear what set off the violence.
Ibrahim el-Sheikh, a neighbor and a brother of a Cairo-based New York Times employee, said the police officer, Mohamed el-Mesairy, was killed by military fire. The officer was hiding in a car in the parking lot of a building in a side street that the Morsi supporters were using for shelter. Video footage taken from a window above showed gunfire from the advancing soldiers hitting the car. In addition to the statements from the army and police spokesman, one neighbor cited by The Associated Press said in a Twitter message that the fighting had started with a barrage of tear gas by the security forces, followed by retaliation with birdshot by Mr. Morsi’s supporters. But that neighbor, identified as Mirna al-Hikbawy, also said that she had been afraid to approach her window because of the fighting, raising questions about the completeness of her account, and her postings indicated a loathing of the Muslim Brotherhood. She did not respond to efforts to contact her over the Internet.
Mr. Sheikh, who signed a petition and joined protests for Mr. Morsi’s ouster, said he and others carried the officer’s body out of his car. “He did not have a head any more,” he said. Dozens of others, including both supporters and opponents of Mr. Morsi, said the military and police had begun firing with little or no provocation, unloading tear gas, birdshot and bullets. The Morsi supporters who were present for the attack said military gunmen had fired down on them from surrounding buildings.
Video footage captured by the Islamists showed one soldier firing down from a roof while another calmly filmed the mayhem below with a video camera. Sandbag gun turrets were visible on some rooftops, and scores of bullet holes in cars, lampposts and the Islamists’ corrugated metal barriers indicated that gunfire was coming from above. Bullet casings on the ground, collected by Islamist demonstrators bore the stamp of the Egyptian Army.
The fighting past dawn, with hundreds of heavily armed soldiers chasing mostly unarmed protesters through the streets and continuing to shoot. There were bullet holes, bullet casings and pools of blood on the ground hundreds of yards from the presidential guard house where the fighting had begun.
Protesters, witnesses and video footage all appeared to portray the pro-Morsi demonstrators as attempting to fight back against the soldiers by throwing rocks. But two witnesses said that they had seen at least two of Mr. Morsi’s supporters armed with what the witnesses described as handguns firing birdshot. Egyptian state television showed film of a pro-Morsi demonstrator firing what appeared to be a homemade handgun at advancing soldiers from behind a corner about 250 yards away, and another man in a black mask walking with a similar gun. The footage was in daylight, hours after the initial shooting.
Early in the morning, Egyptian state media sent out a news alert saying that an army lieutenant had been killed and 200 “armed individuals” captured, then hours later reported dozens of civilian casualties.
Ibrahim el-Sheikh, a neighbor and a relative of a New York Times employee in Cairo, said that military fire had killed one of the police officers, Mohamed el-Mesairy. He was a neighborhood policeman well known on the block and he had sought to hide in his parked car as soldiers and police chased Mr. Morsi’s supporters down the street, according to video footage. The footage showed the gunfire of the advancing soldiers and police hitting the side of the car, and the bullet holes were visible hours later.
Mr. Sheikh, who signed a petition and joined protests for Mr. Morsi’s ouster, said he and others carried the officer’s body from his car. “He did not have a head any more,” he said.
“They opened fire on us while we were praying,” Moataz Abu al-Shakra, a 25-year-old electrical engineer among the pro-Morsi demonstrators, said of the shootings on Monday. He huddled behind a sheet of corrugated metal riddled with bullet holes that Mr. Morsi’s supporters had sought to use as a barricade — anticipating only shotgun pellets, not more powerful ammunition. “There were snipers on the roof tops,” he said.
“It is like they were fighting a war between two countries, not like our army or police,” he said. “They are criminals.”
Mohamed Farahat, 38, a teacher, said the soldiers had fired tear gas along with the bullets and rushed out to arrest dozens of fleeing demonstrators as well.
Gomaa Gaber, a 53-year-old mechanic with a bloodstained shirt, said he threw himself onto a younger relative, Ali Mohamed Said, 24, to try to protect him. But Mr. Said had already been shot in the chest. “He died in my arms,” Mr. Gaber said.
Although by morning some people carried sticks or makeshift clubs, all said that the demonstrators were unarmed. Mr. Sheikh and another neighbor who opposed Mr. Morsi and supported his ouster said the same.
“Our only weapons were bottles of water and prayer rugs,” said Gamal Ali, 37, a teacher.
The Nasr City hospital, a few minutes’ drive from the scene of the shooting, began receiving hundreds of victims around 4 a.m. and at least 40 were dead, according to Bassem al-Sayed, a surgeon. The doctor said all the victims he saw were men with gunshot wounds.The Nasr City hospital, a few minutes’ drive from the scene of the shooting, began receiving hundreds of victims around 4 a.m. and at least 40 were dead, according to Bassem al-Sayed, a surgeon. The doctor said all the victims he saw were men with gunshot wounds.
The emergency wards and the intensive care unit were full of patients and distraught relatives. Near the emergency room, two dozen men lined up to donate blood.The emergency wards and the intensive care unit were full of patients and distraught relatives. Near the emergency room, two dozen men lined up to donate blood.
Dr. Sayed said he had seen similar scenes in the hospital only once: around January 25, 2011, when Egyptians began their revolt against President Hosni Mubarak.Dr. Sayed said he had seen similar scenes in the hospital only once: around January 25, 2011, when Egyptians began their revolt against President Hosni Mubarak.
“This is worse,” he said.“This is worse,” he said.
The survivors, who were shot in the head, chest or arms, or who had been hit in the face by birdshot pellets, all told roughly the same story. They were attacked without warning with tear gas and gunfire near the end of morning prayers. Some said that soldiers and police officers attacked from opposite sides. Others said that because of the dark, they were not sure which security branch their attackers belonged to. The survivors, who were shot in the head, chest or arms, or who had been hit in the face by birdshot pellets, all told roughly the same story. They were attacked without warning with tear gas and gunfire near the end of morning prayers. Some said that soldiers and police officers attacked from opposite sides. Others said that because of the dark, they could not identify the security branch of the attackers.
“We were praying,” said Mahmoud Gomaa Ahmed, 33, who was wounded in the chest. “Before the prayer, nothing had happened at all,” he said, responding to accusations by military officials that a group of “terrorists” had attacked the Republican Guard officers’ club. “There was no one,” Mr. Ahmed said. “We were praying,” said Mahmoud Gomaa Ahmed, 33, who was wounded in the chest. “Before the prayer, nothing had happened at all,” he said. “There was no one,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Mahmoud Mabrouk, 42, who was shot in his right arm, said the first rounds were intended to kill. “It wasn’t for the sake of dispersing us,” he said.Mahmoud Mabrouk, 42, who was shot in his right arm, said the first rounds were intended to kill. “It wasn’t for the sake of dispersing us,” he said.
It was the second explosion of deadly violence outside the Republican Guard officers’ club since the military intervened on Wednesday to depose Mr. Morsi following mass protests against his rule. Mr. Morsi’s supporters believe the former president is being held inside the club, and have held rallies and a sit-in at its gates, demanding his release. Some in the Muslim Brotherhood, rallying their tens of thousands of Mr. Morsi’s supporters nearby, charged that the soldiers had killed numerous women and children. But the hospital and morgue reported no such casualties.
The killings came a day after the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies vowed to broaden their protests against the president’s ouster and American diplomats sought to persuade the Islamist group to accept his overthrow, its officials said. But the killings on Monday seemed certain to inject perilous new factors into the country’s fragile political calculus. At the news conference defending the use of deadly force, a military spokesman said that the advancing soldiers had confiscated handguns, American-made tear gas grenades sold to the Egyptian army, and bottles of whiskey in the Islamists camp.
Continuing a push for accommodation that began before the removal of Mr. Morsi last week, the American diplomats contacted Brotherhood leaders to try to persuade them to re-enter the political process, an Islamist briefed on one of the conversations said on Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. As the news conference began, a crowd of Egyptian journalists jeered until the Al Jazeera television crew was forced to leave the room. Most Egyptian journalists in both the state and private media take a dim view of the Muslim Brotherhood, and they believe that the Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab network owned by the government of Qatar, has sympathized with the group.
“They are asking us to legitimize the coup,” the Islamist said, arguing that accepting the removal of an elected president would be the death of Egyptian democracy. The United States Embassy in Cairo declined to comment. At the end of the news conference, the military spokesman, Ahmed Ali, appeared to raise alarms about the Arab spring revolts that have shaken the region’s old authoritarian governments — something that would have been deemed scandalous here just a few months ago.
“They opened fire on us while we were praying,” Moataz Abu al-Shakra, a 25-year-old electrical engineer, said of the shootings on Monday. He huddled behind a sheet of corrugated metal riddled with bullet holes that Mr. Morsi’s supporters had sought to use as a barricade — anticipating only shotgun pellets, not more powerful ammunition. “There were snipers on the roof tops,” he said. Responding to the Islamist charges that the military had massacred demonstrators, he warned of new kinds of “information warfare” that “run through the Middle East region and we see them since the breaking of the Arab Spring revolutions.”
“It is like they were fighting a war between two countries, not like our army or police,” he said. “They are criminals.” “They’re all wars against the state by its own citizens, and the main weapon in these wars is the circulation of strife, rumors and lies,” he said. “I’m only trying to educate the Egyptian citizens about what’s known as the ‘new wars’ of ‘destroy your own self’ which will not be allowed in Egypt, God willing.”
Mohamed Farahat, 38, a teacher, said the soldiers had fired tear gas along with the bullets and rushed out to arrest dozens of fleeing demonstrators as well.

Ben Hubbard, Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting from Cairo, and Rick Gladstone from New York.

Gomaa Gaber, a 53-year-old mechanic with a large blood stain on his shirt, said he threw himself onto a younger relative, Ali Mohamed Said, 24, to try to protect him. But Mr. Said had already been shot in the chest. “He died in my arms,” he said.
Although by morning some people carried sticks or makeshift clubs, all said that the demonstrators were unarmed. Mr. Sheikh and another neighbor who opposed Mr. Morsi and supported his ouster said the same.
“Our only weapons were bottles of water and prayer rugs,” said Gamal Ali, 37, a teacher.
Even as both sides continued their street demonstrations on Sunday, Egypt’s new leaders continued their effort to form an interim government. Squabbles about a choice for prime minister spilled out into the open on Saturday, exposing splits among the country’s newly ascendant political forces.
State news media quoted a spokesman for Adli Mansour, the interim president, on Sunday as saying there was a “tendency” to name Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, as vice president, and a former chair of Egypt’s investment authority, Ziad Bahaa el-Din, as interim prime minister.
On Saturday, state news media said Mr. ElBaradei had been chosen as prime minister, but the presidency later backed away from the report after ultraconservatives known as Salafis, who fault Mr. ElBaradei for being too secular, apparently rejected the appointment. It was not clear on Sunday that the Salafi party, Al Nour, was any more inclined to accept Mr. ElBaradei as vice president.
Mr. Bahaa el-Din, a lawyer who served in the investment authority and on the board of the Central Bank under former President Hosni Mubarak, was abroad and was considering the request, according to a spokesman for his political party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.
The lack of agreement means that Egypt has been without a fully functioning government since Wednesday, when the defense minister, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, announced that Mr. Morsi had been deposed.

Mayy El Sheikh and Asmaa Al Zohairy contributed reporting.