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Security forces storm opposition headquarters in Gabon after parliament set on fire

Opposition leader Jean Ping told the BBC a presidential guard helicopter bombed his headquarters, killing two people.

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“They attacked around 1:00 am (0000 GMT)”. It is the Republican Guard.

Rene Ndemezo’o Obiang, Ping’s campaign director, said one person was killed.

Bongo won victory with 49.8 per cent of the vote, while Ping picked up 48.23 per cent, resulting in a gap of fewer than 6,000 votes, according to provisional results.

“Armed people who set fire to the parliament had gathered at Jean Ping’s headquarters along with hundreds of looters and thugs… they were not political protesters but criminals”, said Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze.

European Union observers have criticized what they called a “lack of transparency” in the vote, and both the EU and the United States have called for electoral officials to publish results from all polling stations.

Mr Ping disputes the result, which gave President Bongo a narrow victory.

Ping called for worldwide assistance to protect the population of the oil-producing state and said Saturday’s election was stolen by Bongo, who was declared the victor on Wednesday.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre earlier said the council should “reiterate the critical importance of a procedure guaranteeing the transparency of the results of the election”.

Ping had been a close ally of Omar Bongo, serving him in ministerial roles and having two children with his daughter, Pascaline, a former Gabonese Foreign Minister herself.

Angry protesters on Wednesday, set fire to Gabon’s national assembly as thousands of people took to the streets after an announcement that President Ali Bongo had been re-elected.

“The only solution is that Bongo recognises defeat, because he was beaten”, Ping later told France’s BFM TV. “Ask in Europe. Everyone knows”.

Ping called the result an “electoral coup” and accused Bongo of “massive fraud” in the province of Haut-Ogooue, a Bongo stronghold which saw an nearly 100 percent turnout compared to much-lower totals elsewhere in the country.

Some members of the electoral commission resigned as the results were announced Wednesday. “We’ve never seen results like these, even during the father’s time”. The 57-year-old strongman has ruled Gabon since his father died in 2009, who himself had been in power since 1967.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he called “on all political leaders to address their differences peacefully through existing constitutional and legal channels”.

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Oil-rich Gabon has one of the highest per-capita incomes in Africa, but few of its 1.6 million people feel the benefit.

2 killed as election result sparks violence in Gabon