Egyptian firefighters extinguish fire from a vehicle outside a sports stadium in a Cairo’s northeast district, on February 8, 2015 during clashes between supporters of Zamalek football club and security forces.

At least 22 Egyptian football fans were killed when supporters of club Zamalek clashed with police in the capital Sunday evening before a premier league match, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

A medical source at Cairo’s Ahli Bank Hospital, who initially put the death toll at 14, told Ahram Online that the victims “died of suffocation and stampede after being tear-gassed.”

A health ministry spokesman, who declined to confirm the deaths, told Ahram Online at least 20 were injured.

The Egyptian interior ministry said the clashes occurred after Zamalek fans, known as Ultras White Knights, tried to attend the game without buying tickets.

“The Zamalek fans tried to get in by force, and we had to prevent them from damaging public property,” the ministry said in a statement.

The match between the Zamalek and Enbi was open to the public, unlike most other games between Egyptian football clubs since deadly stadium riots in Port Said in 2012.

But the interior ministry had restricted to 10,000 the number of spectators allowed into the stadium, and tickets quickly ran out.

Angry members of the Ultra White Knights, tried to force their way into the stadium, police said. Police fired tear gas to disperse them, before the Zamalek supporters let off fireworks, police and witnesses said.

In February 2012, more than 70 people were killed and hundreds injured in post-match violence following a game in Port Said between Cairo’s Al-Ahly and Al-Masry.

The riots, considered the deadliest in Egypt’s sports history, were largely blamed on supporters of veteran leader Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in early 2011 after a popular uprising.

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