A second camp near Cairo
University was swiftly cleared in the early morning.
Gunfire rang out as
protesters ran away from Rabaa, and clouds of black smoke rose above the sites.
Armoured vehicles moved in alongside bulldozers which began clearing away tents,
and one witness said he saw 15 bodies at a field hospital.
Live television footage
showed medics wearing gas masks and swimming goggles as they treated the
wounded.
Two members of the
Egyptian security forces were shot dead as they tried to disperse protesters,
the state news agency reported.
The operation, which
began at around 7 a.m., came after international efforts failed to mediate an
end to a six-week political standoff between Mursi's supporters and the
army-backed government which took power after his ouster on July 3.
With the Brotherhood
calling on supporters to take to the streets, the violence risked further
destabilising the most populous Arab nation and endangering hopes for
democracy.
The breakup of the camps
would strip the Brotherhood of its main leverage against the government. Some
of the group's leaders have been arrested or are wanted and their assets frozen
in one of the toughest crackdowns it has ever faced.
Television pictures
showed security forces shooting from nearby roofs and protesters reported
clouds of tear gas.
"Tear gas was
falling from the sky like rain. There are no ambulances inside. They closed
every entrance," said protester Khaled Ahmed, 20, a university student
wearing a hard hat with tears streaming down his face.
"There are women
and children in there. God help them. This is a siege, a military attack on a
civilian protest camp."
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