Guinea soldiers shoot dead two after Conakry protests: witnesses

Guinean soldiers shot dead two men Wednesday night in a suburb of the capital city Conakry, where protesters and security forces clashed earlier in the day, sources told AFP.

Mamadou Bela Balde, 30, was shot in the head when soldiers opened fire on him and three friends leaving a house in the district of Wanidara, his brother, who did not wish to give his full name, told AFP. One of the other men, Mamadou Alimou Diallo, was fatally hit in the chest.

"Two others with them were also injured, but are still alive," the brother said.

A source at Conakry's hospital, Ignace Deen, said two corpses were brought in.

The government has yet to comment.

A witness told AFP protest rallies took place in the suburb on Wednesday morning and afternoon, but were over by the time the shooting took place.

Two men in their twenties were shot and injured in Cosa, another Conakry suburb, earlier Wednesday, where protesters had set up barricades to hamper the passage of police trucks, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

The political opposition in Guinea has been protesting against what it considers a violation by the authorities of an agreement reached in August over the appointment of local government officials elected in a hotly disputed vote on February 4.

Rallies called for Wednesday and Thursday have been banned by the authorities.

Earlier this month, police blocked several hundred women from gathering in the streets of Conakry to demand "justice" for people killed in a series of bloody crackdowns.

The opposition says dozens of protesters have been killed by police gunfire at peaceful demonstrations since President Alpha Conde came to power in December 2010.