CAIRO
Surviving supporters of ousted President Mohammad Morsi said gunshots and tear gas canisters rained on them during the Fajr prayers.
“When we heard the gunfire we left the prayers and saw army's armored vehicles approaching us and people in plain clothes stepping out and opening fire at the directives of army and police officers,” they told Anadolu Agency.
The survivors said that gun shooting and tear gas canisters began to ravage their sit-in at 4:00 a.m. while performing Fajr prayer.
"The shooting continued for more than one hour," they added.
"Bullets were primarily fired at the head and chest which claimed more than 53 lives."
The Egyptian Ambulance Authority (EAO) said 42 people were killed and 322 were wounded outside the Republican Guards HQ.
The army said one officer was killed and several soldiers were wounded in an attempt by “a terrorist group” to storm the compound.
But the Muslim Brotherhood said at least 53 people, including five children, were killed and hundreds were wounded when army and police forces opened fire on peaceful protesters outside the HQ.
Eyewitnesses said Morsi loyalists camping out in the nearby Rabaa Al-Adawia square tried to come to their rescue.
"Several of them were injured.”
Witnesses said army troops arrested pro-Morsi loyalists as many tried to take refuge in the nearby Al-Mostafa mosque.
Morsi loyalists are reported to have returned back to their sit-in outside the Republican Guards headquarters where they have been camping for days.
Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, was removed from office by the army on July 3 after mass protests against his regime and the Constitutional Court head was sworn in as interim president.
