Egyptian soldiers escape kidnappers

Two Egyptian soldiers kidnapped by armed supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the Ain Shams area of Cairo managed to escape, Egypt's state TV reported on Monday. 

An army official, cited by state news agency MENA, said that pro-Morsi activists abducted the two men -- identified as Samir Abdallah Ali and Azzam Hazem Ali -- and were forced into a vehicle and made to make pro-Morsi and anti-military statements on a loudspeaker.

He added that one soldier was “severely beaten” while making the pro-Morsi statements.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood called for an “uprising” on Monday after at least 35 of its supporters were shot dead outside an army headquarters in Cairo, and urged international intervention to prevent a “new Syria.”

Earlier, the Egyptian armed forces said “armed terrorists” had tried to storm the headquarters of the elite Republican Guard, where the Brotherhood had been protesting, leaving one security officer dead.

(With AFP)