Egypt unrest: Morsi supporters shot dead in Cairo

At least 34 people have been killed in a shooting incident in Cairo, say officials and the Muslim Brotherhood, amid continuing unrest over the removal of President Mohammed Morsi.

The Brotherhood says its members were fired on while they were holding a sit-in at a Presidential Guard barracks.

The army said a "terrorist group" had tried to storm the barracks.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first Islamist president, was ousted by the army on Wednesday after mass protests.

Dozens of people have been killed since the unrest began last weekend.

Mr Morsi is believed to be held at the Presidential Guard Club, in the eastern Nasr City district of the capital.

His supporters - many of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood - have been staging a sit-in there since late last week demanding his reinstatemen

After Monday morning's violence, the hardline Salafist Nour party - which had supported Mr Morsi's removal - said it was withdrawing from talks to choose an interim prime minister, describing Monday morning's incident as a "massacre".

'Weapons seized'

The Muslim Brotherhood, the movement Mr Morsi comes from, said the army raided the sit-in at about 04:00 (02:00 GMT) as many of the protesters were performing dawn prayers.

"The protesters were taken unawares and the troops used live ammunition, bird shot and tear gas," protester Alaa el-Hadidi told the BBC.

Mahmud al-Shilli told the AFP news agency that troops had used tear gas but that a group of men in civilian clothing had then opened fire.

"The thugs came from the side. We were the target," he told AFP.

But in a statement read on state media, the army blamed the shooting on "an armed terrorist group" which had tried to storm the barracks.

It said an army officer was among those killed and that a number of others were wounded, some critically.

The statement said some 200 people had been arrested and were found to have large amounts of weapons, ammunition and petrol bombs.

Cable television channels in Egypt broadcast images of dead and injured people being taken to the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, where Brotherhood supporters have been based.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Cairo says that despite the conflicting reports, it is clear that blood has been shed, which will aggravate an already critical situation.

The withdrawal of the Nour party will also set back efforts to appoint a new prime minister, our correspondent adds.

Party spokesman Nadder Bakkar said Nour had "decided to withdraw immediately from all negotiations in response to the massacre".

Though the Islamist party had backed the army-led "roadmap" to new elections, it had been wary of the Muslim Brotherhood becoming isolated.

It had blocked the appointment of two potential prime ministers it thought would not include the movement in the political process.

Mr Morsi was replaced on Thursday by Adly Mansour - the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court. He has pledged to hold elections soon, but has as yet given no date for them.

The army has insisted it does not want to remain in power.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of both supporters and opponents of Mr Morsi rallied in many Egyptian cities.