Pro-govt supporter killed in Senegal clashes ahead of polls

A pro-government campaigner was killed in eastern Senegal Monday, in the first fatality from a string of pre-election clashes between supporters of President Macky Sall and the opposition.

A police official told AFP the individual was stabbed during "scuffles" between the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), which is led by opposition leader Issa Sall, and pro-government campaigners.

The body was taken to a hospital in Tamboucounda, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Dakar, the source said.

A police source said a motorcyclist was killed by a vehicle speeding away from the scene of the stabbing. A journalists' association meanwhile said eight reporters were also injured in the violence.

President Sall told an election meeting that the stabbing victim was a member of his governing Alliance for the Republic (APR) and called for "light to be shed (on the killing) so that the electoral campaign does not become a pretext for violence."