Two people have died in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown after rioters rampaged to avenge the death of a businessman allegedly killed by Nigerian fraudsters.

Several Nigerian-owned businesses were attacked in the riots on Thursday.

He was tied in chains and dumped in a guest house

Lansana Fofana BBC, Freetown

United Nations peacekeepers had to fire shots in the air, while youths were seen stoning UN vehicles.

Police say they have now quelled the protests and have deployed officers in areas where Nigerians live.

Markets and shops have opened as normal on Friday, reports Reuters news agency.

Nigerians make up the biggest part of the UN force in Sierra Leone (Unamsil), which is the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world.

Crow-bars and knives

The foreign exchange dealer went missing earlier in the week, after going off with a group of men who told him they had money to change.

His decomposing body was later found in chains at a guest house in Freetown.

The BBC's Lansana Fofana says that youths paraded his body around town before going on the rampage.

He says that he saw one Nigerian beaten up and that the many Nigerians in Freetown are scared.

Four people had gunshot wounds, according to hospital officials, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

It was not clear who had shot them.

The youths, armed with crow-bars, sticks and knives, say they will kill any Nigerians they can find.

The police denied the accusation that they had been soft on the activities of so-called 419 scams, allegedly run by Nigerians.

The acting police chief in charge of criminal investigations, Fodie Daboh, told the BBC's Network Africa that five Nigerians were currently awaiting trial on various fraud charges.