Heavy Gunfire Rocks Capital of Guinea, Downtown Access Blocked

By Staff, Agencies

Heavy gunfire has rocked the Guinean capital Conakry as security forces blocked off the downtown area.

The sound of heavy gunfire was heard from the administrative center, the Kaloum peninsula, in the early hours of Saturday, before security forces blocked the area, media reports said.

“There is gunfire from both automatic and weapons of war in Kaloum,” the political and administrative heart of the seaside city, a witness told AFP.

“The city center has been sealed since dawn, we can neither enter nor leave,” a local said.

It is not yet clear what the cause of the shooting was.

The coastal country in West Africa is among several countries to have seen coups since 2020, along with Mali, Burkina Faso and this year, Niger and Gabon.

In September 2021, and after 11 years of civilian rule, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of Guinea's junta assumed power through a coup.

Kaloum is where the former head of the 2008 military junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, is behind bars along with other soldiers. Unconfirmed reports said that the shooting was linked to an armed attempt to break Camara and others out of prison.