Bissau soldiers gunned down veteran President Joao Bernardo Vieira as he fled his home Monday following turmoil in which the army chief was killed in a bomb explosion, military officials said. The army blamed Vieira, 69, for the death of its leader, General Tagme Na Waie, in a bomb attack on Sunday, a military spokesman, naval Commander Zamora Induta said. A military statement broadcast on state radio attributed President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira's death to an “isolated” group of unidentified soldiers whom the military said it was now hunting down. Vieira's supporters and the army fought in the capital, Bissau, on Sunday and rocket explosions and automatic weapons fire could still be heard in the capital in the early hours of Monday before the firing subsided. The army pledged to respect “constitutional order” and called on the population to remain calm, in a statement issued after senior officers met early Monday. A military commission comprising senior army, air force and naval officers was expected to hold talks Monday with Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and his government, a military source said. In its statement, the army said the situation in the country was “under control” but warned that it would not tolerate “looters and troublemakers” “President Vieira was killed by the army as he tried to flee his house which was being attacked by a group of soldiers close to the head of the chief of staff, Tagme Na Waie, early this morning,” the spokesman said. Soldiers then looted Vieira's home witnesses said.
