President Conde survives overnight attack, capital in lockdown

  •  President Conde's residence was attacked with rockets overnight
  •  Capital city in security lockdown
  •  France issued a statement of support for the president following the attack

President Alpha Conde of Guinea narrowly survived an assassination attempt Tuesday when gunmen surrounded the presidential residence and pounded his bedroom with rockets.

The president happened to be sleeping in a different room at the time of the attack at around 3am local time. The president’s chief of staff, Francois Louceny Fall, confirmed that one of the president’s bodyguards was killed in the incident.

In an interview with French radio station RFI the president said that his bedroom was ripped apart. He would certainly have been killed had he been where the attackers expected.

The 73-year-old Conde is the African nation’s first democratically-elected president in its 52-year history which, like so many African states, has been plagued by instability, conflict and authoritarian rule.Read More...