Armed supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi kidnapped two Egyptian soldiers in the Ain Shams area of Cairo, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported Monday.

An army official, cited by state news agency MENA, confirmed the news, adding that the soldiers were pushed into a vehicle and forced to make pro-Morsi and anti-military statements on a loudspeaker.

Identifying the two as Samir Abdallah Ali and Azzam Hazem Ali, the military spokesman added that one soldier was “severely beaten” even as he was making the pro-Morsi statements.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood called for an “uprising” on Monday after at least 35 of its supporters were shot dead outside an army headquarters in Cairo, and urged international intervention to prevent a “new Syria.”