Gabon opposition leader says two killed, riots engulf capital

Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping has indicated that two people were killed and several others seriously wounded as a second day of violent protests against the re-election of President Ali Bongo engulfed the capital, Libreville.
Riots were raging in at least nine neighborhood, two witnesses and a police source said, a day after angry demonstrators set the parliament building on fire.
One witness reported hearing gunfire and blasts in the Nkembo neighborhood, near the city center, while another saw protesters loot shops, turn over rubbish bins to block streets and smash cars in the Avea neighborhood.

Ping, said two deaths occurred when presidential guard soldiers and police attacked his party's headquarters overnight, called for international assistance to protect the population against what he described as "a rogue state".
"Everybody knows that I won the election," Ping told Reuters, adding the electoral commission's figures were fraudulent.
France, the United States and the European Union urged calm late on Wednesday and called on authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the United Nations also urged restraint.


source://www.reuters.com