25 people killed in Egyptian soccer riot

CAIRO (Reuters) - Twenty-five people were killed outside an Egyptian soccer match on Sunday when security forces barred fans from entering the stadium, the public prosecutor's office said.

Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the violence killed at least 25 people, according to the Associated Press.

There have been conflicting reports over what caused the violence.

Witnesses reported that most of the dead were suffocated when the crowd stampeded after police used teargas to clear the fans trying to force their way into a league match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek and Enppi.

Security officials told the AP that Zamalek fans tried to enter the match without tickets. The Interior Ministry had plans to only allow 10,000 fans into the stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 30,000.

Zamalek fans posted on their group's Facebook page that the violence started after officials forced fans to enter through a single narrow, barbed wire door. Fans began pushing and police responded by firing tear gas and birdshot.

Soccer matches are often a flashpoint for violence in Egypt where 72 fans were killed at a match in Port Said in February 2012. Since then Egypt has curbed the number of people allowed to attend, and supporter groups have often tried to storm stadiums they are banned from entering.

Outside the a Cairo hospital treating the injured, scores of youths wearing Zamalek T-shirts looked dazed with shock as families arrived to see if their relatives were safe.

One mother cried and shouted when she found the name of her son on a list of the dead posted by hospital staff.

"I'd told him: Leave soccer matches," she said.

Relations between security forces and fan groups, known as Ultras, have been tense since the 2011 popular uprising that ended the rule of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, in which the Ultras played a key role.

"Huge numbers of Zamalek club fans came to Air Defense Stadium to attend the match ... and tried to storm the stadium gates by force, which prompted the troops to prevent them from continuing the assault," the interior ministry said.

The public prosecution ordered the arrest of the leaders of the Zamalek supporters group, Ultras White Knights, after Sunday's incident, official media reported.

On their Facebook page, the Ultras White Knights described the 22 dead as "martyrs" and accused security forces of a "massacre".

Despite the violence, the match went ahead and ended with a 1-1 draw. Some media speculated that the government could cancel the national league championship in light of Sunday's violence.

(Additional reporting by Mostafa Hashem and Mohamed Abdellah; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)