Security forces fired bullets and tear gas at the scene of the El Fath mosque in Cairo after an exchange of heavy gunfire outside spilled into the building on Saturday. Hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters had barricaded themselves inside overnight.

Egyptian security unleashed a barrage of bullets after gunmen opened fire at security from a second-story window at around 2 pm local time. One lone gunman started shooting from one of the mosque’s minarets, forcing the surrounding crowds to take cover. A small explosion was heard by journalists present at the scene. 

“Nobody here is safe, they are shooting inside the mosque,” one woman told Al Jazeera by telephone as the mayhem began. Loud firing could be heard in the background.

Some foreign journalists were detained by a crowd amidst the ensuing shower of bullets. Two Western journalists – Matt Bradley, of The Wall Street Journal, and Alastair Beach, of The Independent – were taken into an army vehicle for their own protection. 

Earlier in the day, soldiers peacefully entered the mosque, apparently to peacefully negotiate with protesters and some had successfully managed a safe exit from the building. Hundreds of Morsi supporters sought refuge in the building since protests turned violent Friday. The mosque was serving as a field hospital and morgue after the crackdown. 

A Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdel-Hafiz el-Maslami, told AP that people were afraid to exit the mosque from a fear of detention or the possibility of being attacked by the crowd outside. 

Small groups emerged from the mosque late Saturday morning. The head of the Doctors’ Syndicate told Ahram Online that 1,500 protesters and 31 doctors had asked for a safe exit corridor early in the morning. 

“They demand a safe exit because they fear if they leave the mosque they will be arrested and humiliated. They want to go out in the presence of human rights representatives, media personnel and members of the Doctors Syndicate to make sure this will not happen,” medic Ahmed Hussein said. 

Earlier, AFP reported that soldiers offered to evacuate women but insisted on questioning men, which the protesters refused. “Thugs tried to storm the mosque but the men barricaded the doors,” the agency quoted one of the people inside the mosque as saying. 

The Egyptian Army posted a statement on its Facebook page on Saturday, dismissing what it described as “lies and false claims” by Muslim Brotherhood supporters. The army said it had been providing a safe exit corridor to people inside Cairo’s El Fath mosque, and said some media agencies had“deliberately falsified the facts.” 

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