Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira was killed by soldiers early on Monday after a bomb attack in which the country's military chief was killed, a government official told Xinhua.

An information service official of the Presidential Office of Guinea-Bissau, who only gave his name as Bernabe, told Xinhua on the telephone that President Vieira was killed when he was trying to escape from his residence.

An unknown number of soldiers apparently launched a retaliatory attack after the armed forces chief of staff, Batista Tagme Na Wai, was killed in an explosion that destroyed part of the military headquarters.

Bernabe himself was wounded in the attack. He was receiving medical treatment in a hospital when confirming Vieira's death to Xinhua.

He said he was not clear about the details of the attack.

Guinea-Bissau's press agency also reported the killing of the ventral president after Zamura Induta, chief of external relations of the army, told a press conference that President Vieira had been killed.

Witnesses told Xinhua that they had heard the firing of heavy weapons around the Presidential Residence. They said passersby were rarely seen on the streets and that shops remained shut down amid the exchange of fire, which lasted from 4:00 a.m. (0400GMT) to 9:00 a.m. (0900GMT).

The military of Guinea-Bissau has said in a statement that it respects the constitution order.

In the statement broadcast on the state radio, the military further said there is no coup in progress in the country.

Gunfire and blasts were heard overnight in the city after Na Wai was killed in his office where a bomb was detonated at 20:00 local time (2000 GMT), wounding several other military officers.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The slain army chief had previously filed a complaint against Interior Minister Cipriano Cassama, accusing him of ordering the presidential guard to shoot at him.

In his complaint, Na Wai said "elements, who supported President Joao Bernado Vieira during the 1998-1999 civil war, were recently integrated into the presidential guard," who opened fire at him "on Jan. 4, around midnight, under the orders of the Minister of Interior Administration, Cipriano Cassama."

A spokesman for the presidential guard said after the shooting incident that the rifle of a guard went off when General Na Wai's escort were passing by, describing it as an accident rather than any attempt to assassinate him.

Na Wai, a critic of President Vieira's policy, including some of his appointments, had served in a military junta that toppled Vierira in the 1998-1999 civil war after his rule of 19 years. Vierira returned to power in the 2005 the presidential election.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2009)