CAIRO - At least eight top leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were allegedly arrested at Rabaa Al Adawiya square in Cairo's Nasr City during an operation by the police to disperse supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, state TV reported on Wednesday.

The arrested Brotherhood leaders included Essam al-Erian, deputy chief of the movement's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Mohamed al-Beltagi, a senior member, Safwat Hegazi, a preacher, and its spokesman Ahmed Aaref.

Last week, the Egyptian prosecution referred Beltagi and Hegazi to a criminal court over charges of attempted murder of two policemen. They are accused of kidnapping and torturing the two policemen at Rabaa Al Adawiya Square.

The security forces have taken full control of the square, which had been considered a major sit-in site of Morsi's loyalists since his ouster on July 3.