Listeners save Comoros radio host

Listeners to a radio station in the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean came to the rescue of a presenter who was assaulted while he was on-air.

Two masked men had broken into the studio and assaulted Abdallah Ben Ahmed of Radio Ngazidja on Grande Comore.

The station's director said listeners heard the sounds of a scuffle over an open microphone and rushed to the studio but the intruders had escaped.

The communications minister labelled the attackers "enemies of democracy".

He appealed for information to trace those behind Monday's assault.

Radio Ngazidja director Mohamed Abdelkader said the journalist was seriously wounded when he tried to pull the balaclava off one of his attackers.

He said the two men had tried to destroy radio equipment.