The head of Egypt’s military is promising to end the violence that has ravaged the country in the days since the crackdown on supporters of the previous regime, as 38 members of the Muslim Brotherhood prisoners were killed in what’s being called a escape attempt.

The prisoners were being loaded onto a van for transport to a prison on the outskirts of Cairo.  The country’s interior ministry said the prisoners tried to take an officer hostage, and the authorities responded with tear gas.

“Thirty-six of the prisoners died of suffocation and crowding after tear gas was used to stop their escape,” the ministry said.

More than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested in days of violence that have seen more than 830 deaths.

Meanwhile, the de facto ruler of Egypt, military chief General Abdel Fatah al Sissi, said that supporters of the ousted regime would be welcome to participate in politics in the future.  But he’s also making clear that the Muslim Brotherhood violent resistance would not be tolerated.

“We will not be silent in the face of the destruction of the country and the people, of the burning of the homeland and terrorizing innocent people,” Sissi said, adding that Brotehrhood supporters are welcome “to participate in rebuilding of the democratic path and to engage in the political process, according to the map of the future rather than confrontation and destruction of the Egyptian state.”