Egyptian Photographer Ahmed Samir Assem 'Films Own Death During Army Massacre' [VIDEO]

An Egyptian photographer captured his own death at the hands of army snipers on camera, new video footage suggests.

Ahmed Samir Assem, 26, was filming the violent repression of a pro-Morsi demonstration outside the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo earlier this week, when he was caught in the line of fire.

Assem was among the 51 people who were killed when security forces protecting the compound, where toppled president Mohammed Morsi was reportedly being held, opened fire on demonstrators.

His colleagues at the Al-Horia Wa Al-Adala newspaper told the Daily Telegraph they received Assem's bloodied camera and mobile phone with the news he had been shot.

"I received news that Ahmed had been shot by a sniper in the forehead while filming or taking pictures on top of the buildings around the incident," said Ahmed Abu Zeid, Al-Horia Wa Al-Adala's culture editor.

"He had started filming from the beginning of the prayers so he captured the very beginnings and in the video, you can see tens of victims."

The last few seconds of Assem's footage show a sniper wearing military gear shooting from atop an external wall.

The sniper aims and discharges several times, before suddenly turning his weapon towards Assem's camera lens.

A shot is fired and the video ends. The authenticity of the video can't be proved.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood said its members were staging a peaceful sit-in when they were fired on by a combination of police officers and army troops.

However the army said the firing began after a "terrorist group" had tried to storm the barracks. Military spokesman Ahmed Ali claimed a soldier was killed during the assault as he was shot through the top of the head from above - indicating that snipers were firing from high buildings.

Assem started his career as a photographer three years ago. His newspaper, Al-Horia Wa Al-Adala, is the official mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.