Masked gunmen attack radio station in Bissau

Violence returned to Guinea-Bissau on Monday as gunmen attacked a private radio station in the capital, Bissau, critical of the government.

According to a radio manager, masked men with guns fired shots and destroyed radio equipment. Some employees were also a target of violence.

"What just happened is absurd. It is really absurd. It is a genuine criminal act in broad daylight", said Alberto Braima Sane, local resident and witness to the events.

Some point the finger squarely at the government.

"They know exactly where these vehicles are because there were only these vehicles. They will be found in the courtyard of the presidential palace, that is where they are hiding. They know it very well" denounced Mamadou, another local resident and witness to the events.

Last week, president Umaro Sissoco Embaló survived an attempted coup that claimed at least 11 lives.

Speaking to the press, the government spokesman accused drug lords and mercenary rebels from Casamance of being behind the violence.

"What we are witnessing today in some foreign media is an attempt to whitewash a violent coup aimed at the decapitation of the Guinean state, using people involved in drug trafficking and hiring mercenary rebels from Casamance", accused Fernando Vaz, minister of tourism and spokesman for the government of Guinea-Bissau.

SInce its independence from Portugal in 1974 Guinea-Bissau has suffered four military coups, the most recent one was in 2012.