Eyewitnesses say Guinea-Bissau soldiers have taken over the streets within the capital, Bissau, in an apparent coup attempt.
Soldiers attacked the house of front runner presidential candidate Carlos Gomes, Jr., the outgoing prime minister.
His whereabouts are unknown.
Witnesses say soldiers also arrested politicians and took control of the ruling party headquarters and national radio station while shots and rocket fire were heard inside the capital.
The West African bloc called ECOWAS announced it condemns any attempted coup d'etat.
The U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal, which also covers Guinea Bissau, issued an emergency message to U.S. citizens within the neighboring country to remain faraway from the downtown area of Bissau. It says the reported violence within the city generally is a results of a coup d'etat or a coup attempt, and that an increased potential for political instability and civil or military unrest remains high.
The incidents came about at the eve of the beginning of the electoral campaign for the runoff presidential election in Guinea Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau's opposition - led by second-place finisher Kumba Yala - has called a boycott of the April 29 runoff vote and warned against campaigning. Yala was one in every of five candidates that claimed the 1st-round vote was rigged.
The candidates were vying to switch the late president, Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in January after a protracted illness.
Since winning independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has struggled through a dictatorship, three coups and the 2009 assassination of a president.
From WhatNewsToday.net
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