German cultural centre torched in Togo violence

Masked gunmen torched a German cultural centre in Togo today, leaving the main library building gutted and a van in ashes in the latest violence gripping the country since disputed presidential elections.

A group of armed men stormed into the Goethe-Institut in the capital, Lome, before dawn and held the guards at gunpoint while the attackers shot up the main library and set it ablaze, said the director of the institut, Herwig Kempf.