More bloodshed in Egypt

Egyptian security forces killed at least 30 people on Wednesday when they moved in to clear a camp of Cairo protesters demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Mursi, his Muslim Brotherhood movement said.  There was no official confirmation of the death toll at Rabaa al-Adawiya, in northeast Cairo, where thousands of Mursi supporters have staged a six-week sit-in that caused the army acute embarrassment since it ousted the elected leader. A second camp near Cairo University was swiftly cleared in the early morning.  The operation, which suggested that the powerful military had lost patience with persistent protests that were crippling parts of the capital and slowing the political process, began just after dawn with helicopters hovering over the camps.  Gunfire rang out as protesters, among them women and children, fled Rabaa, and clouds of black smoke rose into the air. Armored vehicles moved in beside bulldozers which began clearing tents. One witness saw 15 bodies at a field hospital.  The Health Ministry said 13 people were killed near Rabaa during the crackdown, including five police and eight civilians. The official death toll could well rise.  The government issued a statement saying security forces had showed the "utmost degree of self-restraint", reflected in low casualties compared to the number of people "and the volume of weapons and violence directed against the security forces". The operation came after international efforts failed to mediate an end to the 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 destabilizing the most populous Arab nation and endangering hopes for democracy.   More than 300 people have already died in political violence since Mursi's overthrow, including dozens of supporters killed by security forces in two separate earlier incidents in Cairo.  The unrest spread beyond the capital on Wednesday, with the Nile Delta cities of Minya and Assiut also rocked by violence. (Source: Reuters)