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President's home attacked in Guinea-Bissau 'mutiny'



BISSAU: A gun battle Sunday at the residence of Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernardo Vieira left one suspected mutineer dead and several government soldiers wounded, officials said. The incident came just a week after elections intended to bring stability to the West African nation, one of smallest and poorest on the continent. "A group of soldiers last night tried to get hold of an arms depot in the president's residence," an official from the army's general staff said. "There was an exchange of gunfire." Three of the attacking soldiers were arrested, but others made off with some weapons including rocket launchers, a senior interior ministry official said. Two hours later, gunfire could be heard near the Mansoa barracks, one of the country's biggest, located 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the capital, witnesses reported.While authorities branded the pre-dawn attack as a mutiny, observers said it could also have been a failed attempt to seize power by one of the president's rivals. Internal administration minister Cipriano Cassama told media there had been signs in the last few days that something was being prepared. An army source on Sunday identified the suspected mastermind as a navy sergeant related to opposition leader Kumba Yala. "The leader of the operation, and he who is thought to be its mastermind, is Alexandre Tchama Yala, and our agents are actively searching for him," said the source in the army's general staff who spoke to media on condition of anonymity.

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