CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of the ousted president early today in violence that left at least 40 people killed, including one officer, outside a military building in Cairo where demonstrators had been holding a sit-in, government officials and witnesses said.

There were conflicting accounts of how the violence began. A military spokesman said gunmen attempted to storm the building at dawn, prompting the clashes. Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, meanwhile, said the security forces fired on hundreds of protesters as they performed early morning prayers. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two accounts.

In chaotic scenes from field hospitals treating the wounded, at least six dead bodies had been laid out on the ground, some with severe wounds, according to footage aired by pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The bodies had been draped with an Egyptian flag and pictures of Morsi. Pools of blood covered the floor and doctors struggled to deal with gaping wounds.

A medic from the area, Hesham Agami, said ambulances were unable to transport more than 200 wounded to hospitals because the military had blocked off the roads.

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