Gunfire erupts in Guinea-Bissau’s capital during reported clashes between security forces

By DARCICIO BARBOSA
Associated Press

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) — Gunfire in Guinea-Bissau’s capital erupted late Thursday night and continued through Friday morning in what local media reported as clashes between security forces. The Democrat newspaper reported that the shooting involved members of the National Guard and the Presidential Palace Battalion after two senior government officials were improperly released from custody. An Associated Press journalist in Bissau says the gunfire was concentrated in the Luanda neighborhood on the outskirts of the city center, where the National Guard’s intervention brigade is located. The two officials, Guinea-Bissau’s finance minister and treasury secretary, are under investigation for alleged corruption. The Public Ministry ordered them rearrested.