Senegal: unrest ahead of presidential vote

In Senegal, Sunday saw some of the most intense street battles yet, with two more people have been killed in the ongoing protests including a demonstrator in the regional capital of Kaolack and a young man hit by a rock in a suburb of the capital. It brings to six the number of people killed in three weeks of violence before next week's contentious presidential poll. Protesters are calling for the departure of 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade. Opposition supporters seized control of more than three blocks in downtown Dakar outside a mosque that had been tear gassed by the police two days earlier. Late Sunday, Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom went on television to apologize to the population, saying he asked for forgiveness from Senegal's Muslims calling the incident “a police blunder.”