The death toll at the hands of Egypt’s military junta continues to rise today, after 38 captured protesters were suffocated to death in the back of an overcrowded police van in Cairo.

Egyptian officials offered two different stories which both involved the detainees killed while attempting to escape from prison, but other sources later confirmed that they were dead in the back of the van.

The deaths fueled more condemnation from around the region, but especially from the Muslim Brotherhood, whose civilian government was ousted by the military last month.

“The murders show the violations and abuses that political detainees who oppose the July 3 coup get subjected to,” the Brotherhood added in a statement. The overall death toll since Wednesday’s massacres in a matter of considerable dispute, but the official Health Ministry figures put it around 850 killed, while most analysts agree it is now well over 1,000. The Brotherhood has suggested it is several thousand, though it is impossible to verify any of the figures as the situation gets more and more chaotic.