Two Chinese were injured on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s capital Kinshasa in exchanges of fire between President Joseph Kabila's special guards and government troops loyal to Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba.

The violence broke out just about two hours after the DRC's electoral commission announced that Kabila and Bemba, two front-runners of the July 30 presidential election, had failed to garner a majority of the votes to win outright and were set to face a runoff on Oct. 29.

The two injured Chinese, both working for Chinese companies based in the African country, had been rushed to hospital. Chinese Ambassador to the DRC Fan Zhenshui has asked the hospital to do all it can to cure them.

At least three people, including a Japanese, were killed in the exchanges of fire, according to information from police and sources from the UN force. The United Nations have 17,500 peacekeepers stationed in the country.

Gunfire could be heard outside the electoral commission buildings.

Sources from the UN force said one soldier from Kabila's special guards and another one guarding Bemba were killed. A number of others were wounded.

The July 30 presidential race was the first democratic one in over four decades in the DRC, where the United Nations has 17,500 peacekeepers.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2006)