President Joseph Kabila is reported safe after an apparent coup attempt in the Congolese capital on Sunday.

Gunmen loyal to the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko are blamed for attacks on several military barracks and a television station in Kinshasa.

One loyalist soldier was killed and two were injured during four hours of fighting before government forces regained control.

The fighting started about two hours before dawn outside the center of the capital, witnesses said. A few hours later, gunfire could be heard in the centre of Kinshasa.

Kabila runs an interim government set up after the country announced a new constitution in April 2003, four months after Kinshasa and the country's main rebel groups signed a peace accord.

The agreement ended four years of civil war that killed at least 2.5 million people.