Loyal forces kill three as army coup attempt fails

A GROUP of soldiers launched a foiled coup bid in Gambia on Tuesday while the president was abroad, military and diplomatic sources said.

Forces loyal to President Yahha Jammeh, who has ruled the West African nation for 20 years, killed three suspects, including the alleged ringleader, an army deserter, the military said.

An officer, speaking from Bissau, said the deserter, named as Lamin Sanneh, led a heavily armed attack with six other men on the presidential palace in the capital Banjul.

The predawn assault triggered panic in the tropical city, while national radio went off air for several hours and state television was suspended.

Jammeh’s precise whereabouts remained unclear.

Gambian officials said the president was on a private visit to Dubai and foreign diplomats said he was in France, but an official in Paris said there was no sign he was in the country.

Opposition politician Sheikh Sidya Bayo told Senegalese radio that the unrest was the start of a mutiny that changed into a bid to topple Jammeh.

Three of the suspected coup plotters were killed and another captured by Jammeh’s forces, but there was no confirmation of an overall death toll.

“Police and the army are now entirely in control,” the military officer said on condition of anonymity.

A Gambian diplomat said the presidential palace in the heart of the small city on the Gambia River was attacked in the early hours by men including members of the presidential guard.

A Western diplomat said a coup had been foiled. – AFP