Guinean leader escapes assassination attempt

Guinea's military leader Moussa Dadis Camara has escaped an assassination attempt with 'slight' injuries after a top presidential guard shot him.

Camara was shot and "slightly wounded" on Thursday when his security chief and aide Aboubacar Toumba Diakite reportedly made an attempt on the 45-year old president's life, who swept to power in a late December coup last year.

"The president of the republic is still the president of the republic and he is in good health," the West African country's Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said.

The incident took place in a military camp in downtown Conakry, the capital city, where Diakite loyalists ran the military base.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of intermittent gunfire with military helicopters hovering over the capital in order to quell possible clashes between opposition military groups. The groups came into being in the wake of the government's deadly clampdown on protesting civilians in which 157 people were killed amid widespread allegations of rape and carnage by Camara' troops in late September.

The country's junta, which runs the nation from the main military barracks in the capital, has denied any involvement in the September 28 confrontations with Guineans who had demanded Camara deliver on his promise to launch a presidential vote.

The latest developments in Guinea have prompted the African Union to impose sanctions on Guinea's junta leader who decided to run for president himself.