Gunmen kill Guinea's anti-graft treasury chief Aissatou Boiro

The head of Guinea's treasury was gunned down as she was driving home in what her colleagues describe as a brazen assassination aimed at silencing an official who had launched an investigation into the disappearance of millions in state funds.

The forensic doctor who examined the body of treasury chief Aissatou Boiro on Friday said she had two bullet wounds to the chest and died of internal bleeding.

She was investigating the loss of the equivalent of HK$14 million in Guinea francs that went missing from state coffers.

The government issued a statement saying that Boiro had been killed by a group of men wearing military uniforms. Security forces have launched a manhunt to try to find and arrest the gunmen, the statement said.

Boiro was named to head the country's treasury eight months ago by President Alpha Condé.

She had zero tolerance for corruption and was intent on putting an end to the mismanagement of state funds, say two of her colleagues.