Gun battle in Cairo mosque as Egypt mulls Brotherhood ban Security forces fought a gun battle with supporters of Mohamed Morsi in central Cairo on Saturday, as they cleared a mosque where hundreds of supporters of the ousted president had barricaded themselves after deadly clashes on Friday. Both sides exchanged fire before police entered the al-Fath mosque, which had been used the day before as a mortuary and field hospital. Local television stations broadcast live images of troops firing assault rifles at the minaret of the mosque. Television also showed men and women emerging from the mosque escorted by police. Security sources are quoted as saying that many had been arrested. Earlier in the day some of the protesters said they were afraid to come out because they feared vigilantes gathered outside the mosque. On Friday, the area was the scene of fierce battles between the security services and supporters of the ousted president who had organised marches from mosques around the city to the square in defiance of the military-backed authorities in power since the army deposed Mr Morsi last month. Friday's violence left 173 dead across Egypt, according to official figures. The casualties include a son of Mohamed Badie, the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood who is considered its most senior spiritual leader. Ammar Badie, the Brotherhood said, died from a bullet wound. Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group has vowed to continue its protests until he is reinstated. But the group, which has won successive electoral victories in the past two years, faces the prospect of being outlawed as the authorities harden their attitude and appear determined to banish them from politics. A government spokesman said on Friday that Hazem al-Biblawi, the prime minister had proposed the legal dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood and that the government was studying the idea. In a statement Mr Biblawi said there could be "no reconciliation with those whose hands have been polluted with blood." He said there were many casualties among policemen and army personnel and that Friday had witnessed attacks against police stations, churches and public buildings. Mostapha Hegazi, a political adviser to the president told a press conference that was what was at issue "was not a political dispute." "We are speaking about a people and a nation who face a war declared against them a month ago by extremist forces whose actions are escalating to the point where they can be described as terrorism," he said. State television news reports are carrying the subtitle "Egypt fighting terrorism" - now the official message emanating from the interim authorities. Even under Hosni Mubarak, the authoritarian president ousted by a popular revolution in 2011, the Brotherhood was never labelled a terrorist organisation, although it was a banned organisation. Hundreds of Mr Morsi's supporters were killed on Wednesday when the security services broke up two protests camps in Cairo by Islamists demanding his return. Amnesty International called for an impartial investigation in a statement issued late on Friday in which it said that "security forces used unwarranted lethal force and broke promises to allow the wounded to exit safely."