Thirty-eight people were killed Sunday during an attempted escape by detained members of the Muslim Brotherhood, dpa reported.
The men had been detained Saturday amid the Brotherhood's protests against the military government and its crackdown on their demonstrations. There was no official comment on the incident.
According to Al Jazeera, the men were being transported to a prison when they took a police officer hostage. Other police officers who were outside the vehicle opened fire through the window and killed all the occupants.
There were earlier reports in security circles that several members of the Muslim Brotherhood had tried to escape police custody. The detainees reportedly were being transferred from the security directorate in Cairo to Abu Zaabal prison.