But he said an independent investigation was needed to establish the full facts.
The violence in central Cairo on Oct. 9 between protesters, mostly Coptic Christians, and the army was the deadliest since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February and drew condemnation from rights groups and Egyptian citizens.
“The majority of witnesses said there were no live bullets fired by the army,” said Hafez Abu Saeda, a senior figure in the government-sponsored National Council for Human Rights, which set up the committee.
The committee said military police used blank rounds when it tried to disperse the crowd and said most witnesses blamed unknown agitators for firing at protesters.
“Witnesses pointed to a certain incident in which someone was seen on top of the Sixth of October Bridge on a truck and who had a gun which he pointed at victims,” Abu Saeda said.
Some people were crushed by armored vehicles driven into the crowd. The report found that 12 people died as a result.
Abu Saeda said an independent investigation was needed and some state institutions did not cooperate fully with the committee. “The armed forces did not cooperate enough as they did not present us with the names and information about their victims,” he said.
Some rights activists criticized the report for a lack of detail.
“They should have mentioned the kinds of bullets that were in the bodies of the victims as that would be an indicator of what kind of weapon was used,” said Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information.
He said he did not trust the National Council for Human Rights. “The history of the council as a defender of the government is not easily forgotten,” he said.
