Gunfire erupts near Guinea's presidential palace and the military locks down the area

CONAKRY, Guinea —

Shots were fired late Thursday near the presidential palace in Guinea's capital Conakry, and the army locked down the city center and evacuated it. It wasn't immediately clear who was shooting or why.

Local journalist Fode Toure, who was a few hundred meters from the presidential palace, told The Associated Press he heard gunshots and saw people running away in panic. An AP reporter near the palace saw heavily armed soldiers patrolling the streets.

The West African nation has been led by a military regime since soldiers ousted President Alpha Conde in 2021. The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS has pushed for a quick transition back to civilian rule and elections are scheduled for 2025.

Col. Mamadi Doumbouya, who leads the country, overran the president three years ago, saying he was preventing Guinea from slipping into chaos and chastised the previous government for broken promises.

However, since coming to power he's been criticized for being no better than his predecessor.In February, military leaders dissolved the government without explanation, saying a new one will be appointed.

In February, military leaders dissolved the government without explanation, saying a new one will be appointed. Doumbouya has rebuffed attempts by the West and other developed countries to intervene in Africa's political challenges, saying Africans are ''exhausted by the categorizations with which everyone wants to box us in.''

Several West African nations including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have had coups that installed military juntas. They have severed or scaled back long-standing military ties with Western powers in favor of security support from Russia.