According to an intelligence source, Several dozen military personnel and
civilians were arrested, and a large cache of weapons and explosives were found
following a reported coup attempt in The Gambia.
The suspects have been interrogated
and were being held in “four villas” in or near the tiny west African nation’s
capital Banjul Gambia strongman leader Yahya Jammeh, who was visiting Dubai at
the time of the attack, blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists”
for the assault which took place on Tuesday on his presidential palace, and
denied it was an attempt to unseat him.
He said in a televised address, “It is an attack by dissidents based in the
US, Germany and UK,” “This was not a
coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I
would not name.” Jammeh insisted that the armed forces “are very loyal” and
that only former soldiers, including a senior commander, had taken part in the
attack on his palace. “No force can take this place and nobody can destabilise
this country,” he said. “Anybody who plans to attack this country, be ready,
because you are going to die.”
A group of heavily armed men led by an army deserter attacked the
presidential palace before dawn, but were repelled by forces loyal to Jammeh,
who has ruled for 20 years since he seized power in a 1994 coup that ousted
Gambia’s founding leader Sir Dawda Jawara.
Investigators have allegedly seized the plan laying out the attack, in
which the three suspects, including the alleged ringleader were killed. One of the alleged conspirators also led
authorities to “a large quantity of very sophisticated automatic weapons and
explosives,” in a shipping container disguised as second-hand clothing at
Banjul’s port. Four officers suspected of participating in the attempt had taken
refuge in the neighbouring West African nation of Guinea-Bissau.
Gambia is a popular winter sun destination for European holidaymakers,
especially from Britain
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