REPORT: White House says it is concerned about Egypt violence

Journalists for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera were kicked out of a news conference being held by Egypt's military on the killing of at least 40 people, most of them supporters of Egypt's ousted president, outside an army facility.      

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera was founded by the Gulf nation's ruling family. The tiny but wealthy country voiced strong support to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who was toppled by the military on Wednesday.                       

The station broadcast graphic images of those killed and wounded in the violence Monday outside a military facility.
             
During the news conference, one journalist stood up and demanded Al-Jazeera reporters be excluded from the proceedings.              

The Al-Jazeera reporters eventually stood up and walked out accompanied by chants of "Out! Out!” from others in the crowd.             

This as Egypt's top Muslim cleric warned of civil war and said he will go into seclusion at his home until the bloodshed ends as a show of protest.             

Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb also called for the transitional period that began following last week's ouster of the president to be limited to six months.           

El-Tayeb is the grand imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque, the world's primary seat of learning for Sunni Muslims, the vast majority of the world's Muslims. El-Tayeb's statement came hours after clashes erupted between the Egyptian army and Islamists in Cairo on Monday.                   

The carnage outside the Republican Guard building - where toppled President Mohammed Morsi was first held last week - marked the single biggest death toll since Morsi's was forced from power.      

There have been conflicting reports of how the violence erupted.   

A military spokesman said initial information indicated that gunmen affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood tried to storm the Republican Guard building shortly after dawn, firing live ammunition and throwing firebombs from a nearby mosque and rooftops.              

The Muslim Brotherhood and witnesses at the scene said soldiers opened fire at dawn on protesters outside the building.               

Egyptian television showed protesters pelting troops with rocks, and setting tyres on fire, as soldiers dressed in riot gear and carrying shields formed lines down the street.           

The state television also reported that 322 people had been wounded in what it described as an attempt to storm the Republican Guard's headquarters. 

On another note, presidency spokesman Ahmed Elmoslmany said the clashes that led to at least 51 deaths in front of Egypt's Republican Guard will not derail efforts to form a new interim government.                 

Meanwhile, Egypt's interim administration expressed "deep regret" for those killed in Cairo's violence; it said in a statement carried on the state news agency.        

The transitional administration also said it had formed a judicial committee to investigate the events.       

The statement called on protesters not to approach any military or "other vital installations".                         

This as, the Muslim Brotherhood said its supporters were fired on outside the headquarters of the Republican Guard in Cairo. The military said the Islamists attacked the building where deposed President Mohamed Morsi was being held.                

The Brotherhood called on Egyptians to rise up against those who "want to steal" the revolution, a statement by its political wing said on Monday, after the Health Ministry said at least 35 people were killed in shooting outside the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard.              

For his part, Egyptian liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei said the country was in "dire need" of reconciliation and condemned all violence.      

The bloodshed deepened Egypt's political crisis, escalating the struggle between the army, which overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last Wednesday after mass demonstrations demanding his resignation, and the Brotherhood, which has denounced what it called a coup.       

Positions:                        

The United States remains concerned about the increasing violence and political polarization in Egypt, and has called on the transitional authority in Egypt to avoid reprisals, arrests and restrictions on the media, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Meanwhile, the Hamas group condemned the killing of at least 40 Egyptians at a Cairo sit-in, though it stopped short of taking sides in the unfolding crisis in neighboring Egypt.                         

Hamas said it "voices extreme pain and grief" for the victims' death and sent condolences to the victims' families.                            
The Palestinian Islamist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of toppled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.                    

Holding General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi responsible, the group described the shooting as a "horrible crime" in a statement posted on Facebook.                   

This comes as Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned the Cairo shooting in which at least 42 people died on Monday, describing the incident as a "massacre" and calling for the start of a normalization process.                         

He called for the start of a political normalization process that respects the national will of Egyptians.                         

Similarly, Iran's Foreign Ministry criticized the Egyptian military's toppling of the nation's Islamist president, calling the move improper in its first official reaction.                  

"We do not consider proper the intervention by military forces in politics to replace a democratically elected administration," said ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi Sunday, according to the official news agency IRNA.             

Araghchi said that supporters of Morsi should not give up their efforts to reinstate him.                    

"Islamists and revolutionaries should not be frustrated," Araghchi said.                               

On the other hand, he said, "We do not see the recent events in Egypt as a defeat for Islamic awakening."               


REUTERS/AP

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