Conakry — The African Union (AU), European Union and United Nations (UN) yesterday strongly rebuked the Guinean army's use of violence at a protest in the capital, Conakry, in which 157 people were said to have been killed, and France suspended its military co-operation with the country's junta.

The military crackdown on junta opponents killed 157, a local rights group said, quoting army and hospital sources.

Condemnation of Guinea's junta intensified yesterday, with France joining the AU in threatening sanctions after security forces on Monday shot at tens of thousands of protesters who were urging military ruler Capt Moussa Dadis Camara to step down.

The violence was the worst since Camara seized control of the world's top bauxite exporter in a December 2008 coup. But the junta leader said he was not responsible for the deaths. He also said he would still hold meetings to decide on whether to stand in a presidential election due early next year.

"France has decided to immediately suspend military co-operation with Guinea. It is also reviewing its entire bilateral aid," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

"At our request, the European Union will meet today in Brussels to examine additional measures, particularly against individuals, that could be taken swiftly," he said. He said France, Guinea's former colonial ruler, was also talking to the AU and the UN Security Council about the situation.

"According to hospital sources that we have spoken to, 157 dead and 1253 injured have been registered," Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Human Rights Organisation, said yesterday.

Sow said the figure did not include the bodies of those demonstrators killed in a stadium but which had not been delivered to hospitals.

Drunken soldiers patrolled Conakry yesterday, witnesses said.

The clashes follow months of wrangling between Camara and his opponents, who are backed by donors and regional bodies in insisting he should not stand in a January presidential poll.

Diplomats said yesterday Camara had said in private he would stand.

The AU yesterday insisted that Camara should not stand in the election, and so allow transition back to civilian rule. Britain yesterday also condemned the shootings.

Camara rejected responsibility for the deaths. "This clash did not take place because of me," he told French state broadcaster RFI.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon condemned the killings, which eyewitnesses said were unprovoked and indiscriminate. "Soldiers were firing at people and those who tried to get out (of the stadium) were caught and finished off with bayonets," said rights activist Souleymane Bah. "I saw soldiers strip women ... and stamp on their privates with their boots," he said.

Camara seized power after President Lansana Conte died in December last year. He had initial support from a population after decades of Conte's rule left the mineral-rich state in disarray.

But increasingly erratic behaviour, including crackdowns on former backers in the military, attacks on mining firms and the likelihood he will stand for election, fuelled instability.