Four Irish citizens being held by Egyptian security forces

It is being reported that the four Irish citizens caught up in the recent violence in Cairo are being detained by security forces in Egypt.

Ireland's Ambassador to Egypt, Isolde Moylan, is trying to gain access to all four, who are being held in one place, and he has requested a consular visit.

The three women and a teenage boy are members of an Irish-Egyptian family, whose father Hussein Halawa is the Imam of Ireland's biggest mosque in Dublin.

At least two of the siblings - Omaima, 20, and Fatima Halawa, 22 - were believed to have been taken into military custody after getting out of the mosque yesterday

It is understood their mobile phones were taken off them, but they somehow got access to another phone which they used to call their family in Dublin and tell them of their arrest.

However, it was not known what happened to Somaia, 27, and Ibrahim, 17.

They were in Egypt with their mother for summer holidays while their father remained at home in Dublin.

More rallies are being planned across the country by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi today.

More than 800 people have been killed nationwide since Wednesday’s dismantling of two encampments of Morsi supporters in Cairo – an act that sparked fierce clashes.