38 prisoners die as Egypt violence escalates

Some 38 Muslim Brotherhood supporters died in disputed circumstances at a prison yesterday, as the leader of Egypt’s powerful army warned he would not tolerate violence, urging Islamists to change course.

Latest government figures said at least 830 people had died since last Wednesday in clashes pitting followers of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi against security forces in the worst political bloodletting to rock Egypt in recent history.

Police have rounded up hundreds of Morsi’s Brotherhood backers in recent days, in an effort by the army-backed government to end weeks of protests and to stamp their authority on the deeply polarised nation. The government said 70 members of the security forces were among the dead.