50 die in Egyptian bloodbath on Islamists’ ‘Day of Rage’

Islamist protests descended into a bloodbath across Egypt yesterday, with around 50 killed in Cairo alone on a “Day of Rage” called by followers of ousted President Mohamed Mursi to denounce a crackdown by the army-backed government.

As automatic gunfire echoed across Cairo, the standoff seemed to be sliding ever faster towards armed confrontation, evoking past conflict between militant Islamists and the state in the most populous Arab nation.

According to reports by Reuters, more than 40 people were also killed in provincial cities, taking the overall toll close to 100, although the intense shooting eventually died down in Cairo at dusk as a curfew began.

While Western governments urged restraint after hundreds died when security forces cleared protest camps two days ago, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah endorsed the government’s tactics against the Muslim Brotherhood, saying on Friday his nation stood with Egypt in its battle against “terrorism”.

Army helicopters hovered low over supporters of Mursi’s Brotherhood in Ramses Square, the theatre of much of yesterday’s bloodshed in Cairo, black smoke billowing from at least one huge blaze which lit up the night sky after sundown.

A witness saw the bodies of 27 people, apparently hit by gunfire and birdshot, wrapped in white sheets in a mosque. Another said security forces opened fire from numerous directions when a police station was attacked.

A security official said 24 policemen had been killed and 15 police stations attacked since late Thursday, underlining the increasing ferocity of the violence.

Egyptian state media have hardened their rhetoric against the Brotherhood – which ruled Egypt for a year until the army removed Mursi on July 3 – invoking language used to describe militant groups such as al Qaeda and suggesting there is little hope of a political resolution to the crisis.

“Egypt fighting terrorism,” said a logo on state television.

Showing no sign of wanting to back down, the Brotherhood announced a further week of nationwide protests.

Islamists have periodically been in conflict with the Egyptian military for decades. Nationalist General Gamal Abdel Nasser staged a crackdown on the Brotherhood in the 1950s and another followed before and after the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat by fundamentalist officers. In the 1990s militants waged a bloody campaign for an Islamic state.