Seven people killed in Casamance

Officials in Senegal say seven people have been killed -- apparently by separatist rebels -- in the southern Casamance province.

The officials, speaking from the provincial capital, Ziguinchor, said the rebels stopped around ten vehicles, robbing the occupants and beating them up, before opening fire, killing seven of them.

The Senegalese army has sent reinforcements to the area.

Correspondents say the attackers are believed to be members of the Movement of Casamance Democratic Forces MFDC -- a separatist group which has been fighting for independence since the early nineteen-eighties. The Casamance region, which is almost cut off from the rest of the Senegal by Gambia, has seen periodic unrest ever since then.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service