36 Brotherhood detainees die near Cairo as Islamists attack prison convoy – state media.

36 Brotherhood detainees die near Cairo as Islamists attack prison convoy – state media.HT:Russia Today.

Thirty-six Islamist prisoners were killed in Egypt while being transferred to Abu Zaabal prison in northern Cairo, Egypt’s official MENA news agency said.

The statement did not provide a detailed picture of the incident, but indicated that some of the killed detainees were trying to escape the prison. 
According to the version given by the state media on EGYNews.net and quoted by RT’s Bel Trew, a police truck transporting detainees was attacked by a group of armed men. During the incident, which was said to be taking place in a car park, a police officer was taken hostage. Officers responded by firing tear gas, and the people inside the prison truck subsequently suffocated to death. 
The detainees were held pending investigations into the Ramses Square clashes, the report added.

State media story makes no sense- who kidnapped the soldier, why tear gas? How did the gas get in the truck? http://t.co/DsDnAyjUMH
— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) August 18, 2013

Question: if armed groups opened fire at a police truck, why did police use tear gas considering they are allowed to use live ammunition?
— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) August 18, 2013

Wildly varying accounts of the events immediately emerged in the media and on Twitter. 
AFP cited official sources that said the men were teargassed after starting a prison mutiny, and that they were all Islamists. 

Reuters quoted the Interior Ministry statement as saying that a number of detainees tried to escape from a prison on the outskirts of Cairo and had taken a police officer hostage. An undisclosed number of people had died from inhaling tear gas rounds in subsequent clashes, the agency said, adding that the officer was freed but badly wounded.

Al Jazeera quoted a source who said that all 38 prisoners were actually shot after taking a police officer hostage. The media outlet also said the men were being transported to the Cairo prison, adding that they were all detained in the Al-Fath mosque siege.