(Adds colour, updates casualty figure, adds quote)
CAIRO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - More than a dozen fire engines and military helicopters battled a massive fire that gutted the main building of Egypt's upper house of parliament on Tuesday and injured at least 10 people.
Flames and clouds of smoke billowed in the air from the old three-storey building in central Cairo. State-run media said the cause was probably a short-circuit.
Police cordoned off the area around the building, which is close to the cabinet house, the American University in Cairo and several Western embassies.
"God protect us!" Fathi Sorour, speaker of the lower house of parliament, said in a live interview on the state-run Nile News television.
Sorour, who was not inside the parliament, said he feared the fire could spread to nearby buildings and urged firefighters to redouble their efforts.
Helicopters hovered over the river Nile to scoop water into containers suspended beneath them before flying to parliament and dumping the water over the blaze, Reuters witnesses said.
More than a dozen fire engines were spraying water from hoses to put out the flames, which caused parts of the wooden ceiling on the top floor to collapse, a Reuters witness said. Ambulances were also at the scene.
Security officials and medics said 10 people, mostly firefighters, suffered from smoke inhalation. Nile News quoted an unnamed security source saying 13 people were injured.
The fire broke out on the top floor and later spread to the rest of the building, officials said. Hundreds of people gathered near the building to take photographs.
State-run television urged people in repeated addresses to avoid streets leading to the site of the fire. (Additional reporting by Mohamed Abdellah and Alaa Shahine, Writing by Alaa Shahine, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Shura Council building remained on fire around 23:00 local time
Fire broke out today at Egypt's Shura Council, the upper house of the Parliament of Egypt at around 16:00 local time. The number of casualties had reached 13 by 22:30. Officials said that most of the casualties were a result of smoke inhalation and minor burns.

"The fire is currently limited to the Shura Council's second floor. We are still trying to determine the exact cause of the fire," the official said. "Parliament is currently on summer recess and very few people would have been in the building."

As of this article's publication, thick black clouds of smoke could still be seen billowing from the three-story building in downtown Cairo. A statement had been broadcast over a local TV network indicating that the evacuated employees said authorities told them they had ruled out terrorism and that the fire has been a result of a short circuit.

Fire engines and military helicopters reached the fire location and began trying to extinguish the flames. Ambulances were also seen in the area. 

Parts of the ceiling on the top floor collapsed due to the fire.

The Egyptian Taxation building had also caught on fire.