About 120 people are said to be dead in weekend clashes between Egyptian security forces and rioters supporting deposed president Mohammed Morsi.
A Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson, Ahmed Aref, said 66 people were killed, while another 61 are "clinically dead", and a further 4,500 people were injured. Of these, he claimed, 700 were wounded by live bullets.
"This massacre is an attempt to complete the coup," he said.
Al Jazeera said that the health ministry has put the figure at 65 killed so far, based on the number of bodies recieved at the morgue, while doctors at the field hospital in Nasr City, where the pro-Morsi supporters have been gathering for nearly a month, have put the number as high as 120.
Egypt's interim interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim denied Saturday that live bullets were fired at the rioters. Protests calling for the reinstatement of Morsi would be dispersed "soon,” he promised.
Speaking at a news conference, Ibrahim said security forces would act "in a legal fashion" to disperse the demonstrations "as soon as possible," while acting to ensure "the minimum losses possible".
"We hope that [the protesters] come to their sense and that they put an end to these protests in order to prevent bloodshed," he added.
"We hope that [the protesters] come to their sense and that they put an end to these protests in order to prevent bloodshed," he added.
The grand imam of al-Azhar, which is Sunni Islam’s top authority, condemned the death of dozens of Morsi supporters.
“The sheikh of Al-Azhar deplores and condemns the deaths of a number of martyrs who were victims of today’s events,” the imam, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, said in a statement released on Saturday.
He added that there must be an “urgent judicial investigation” and punishment of those responsible “regardless of their affiliation.”