The leader of the west African nation of Guinea has been captured in a suspected coup by members of his own armed forces, according to reports.
Unverified footage showed soldiers detaining President Alpha Condé, 83, as the rebels issued declared they had ‘taken’ him and dissolved the government.
But the situation remains unclear as Mr Condé’s defence minister was quoted a short time earlier as saying an attack on the presidential palace had been ‘repulsed’.
Local magazine Jeune Afrique, citing military sources, said the assailants are a unit of elite special forces led by a former French legionnaire, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya.
In the video, the president’s captors can be heard asking him to confirm he is unharmed, but he does not speak.
They also claimed to have shut down all airports and sea ports.
Heavy gunfire was heard throughout the day in the Kaloum neighbourhood of the capital of Conakry.
The area, which lies on a small peninsula on the tip of the city’s coastal edges, is home to most government ministry buildings and the presidential palace.
The only bridge connecting the peninsula to the mainland has been sealed off and many heavily armed soldiers were posted around the presidential palace, a military source told the Reuters news agency.
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