Kabila assassinated 'after row with generals'

The Congo president Laurent Kabila is reported to have been killed after a disagreement with some of his army generals.

A number of his bodyguards have been arrested and the homes of others are being searched, says the wife of one of the bodyguards.

It is not clear whether it was a general or a bodyguard who fired on Mr Kabila.

Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Louis Michel says: "The latest information we have seems to suggest there were differences between the president and a certain number of generals that went badly."

The ruler of the troubled nation was apparently shot and killed during a coup attempt.

Foreign Office minister Peter Hain earlier confirmed Mr Kabila's death, but Congolese officials are remaining silent over the fate of the president .

"He's died," says John Aycoth, a public relations consultant who acts as Kabila's spokesman in the United States.

Mr Aycoth says he has spoken to top-level Congolese officials in Kinshasa who had confirmed Kabila's death.

There is still no official word from Congo's government about whether Kabila has even been shot.

Tanks and trucks filled with soldiers are patrolling empty streets as helicopters cruise overhead.

State television has been playing patriotic and devotional music.

The station has also announced that all cabinet ministers and their deputies were being called to an "extraordinary" meeting in Kinshasa, but did not give details.