(AA) – Egyptian authorities announced the arrest of 1004 Muslim Brotherhood members, accusing them of involvement in "terrorist acts" on Friday.
In a Saturday statement, the Interior Ministry said that 5 machine guns, 15 firearms, 7 hand grenades, and 710 bullets were found in their possession.
The suspects were arrested in several Egyptian cities, including 43 in Alexandria, 22 in Kafr al-Sheikh, 12 in Suez and 15 in Ismailia.
A security source earlier said that 821 "Muslim Brotherhood rioters" had been arrested on Friday.
The army, meanwhile, said that it had arrested 60 members of "armed groups" accusing them of involvement in "terrorist acts" and sabotage of public facilities in several district of the capital Cairo.
In a statement, the army accused "militant groups" of setting a building in Cairo's Ramses Square ablaze and continuing to fire live ammunition from inside al-Fath Mosque, located inside the square.
But a Muslim Brotherhood member described the accusations as "fabricated".
"These are fabricated accusations against whoever opposes the bloody terrorist coup," Mokhtar al-Ashri, member of the Freedom and Justice Party's legal committee, told Anadolu Agency.
Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi staged mass rallies in several Egyptian cities on Friday to protest Wednesday's violent dispersal of their two main protest sites in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares.
The Health Ministry has said that at least 638 people had been killed in nationwide violence since Wednesday, including 288 in Rabaa and 87 in Nahda.
However, the pro-National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy has put the number of deaths from the Rabaa sit-in alone at some 2,600.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
