CAIRO: Egypt Sunday announced early presidential elections likely to anoint the general who overthrew President Muhammad Mursi, as the country reeled from violence that killed dozens of people.

Interim president Adly Mansour announced the poll in a televised address, a day after 49 people died in clashes between protesters and police and thousands rallied in Cairo in support of military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sissi.

As Mansour addressed the nation to announce the early presidential election, relatives of those killed on Saturday assembled outside a Cairo morgue, chanting anti-military slogans.

“Down with the military! The people want to topple the regime!” they chanted outside the Zeinhom morgue as they collected the corpses of loved ones.

A statement signed by nine Egyptian human rights groups accused the police of using “live ammunition” against demonstrators. Police said the protesters themselves had used weapons.

In his address, Mansour, a judge the military appointed as interim president to replace Mursi, pledged to “uproot (terrorists) and show them no mercy.”

Also on Sunday four soldiers were killed and nine wounded when gunmen attacked a military bus traveling in the Sinai Peninsula, security sources said.