‘Dozens arrested’ after failed Gambia coup
Crackdown on dissidents underway after cache of arms and explosives is discovered following failed coup president says was backed by the West
Dozens of military personnel and civilians were arrested and a large cache of weapons and explosives found after an alleged coup attempt in The Gambia, an intelligence source said on Thursday.
The suspects have been interrogated and were being held in “four villas” in or near the tiny West African nation’s capital Banjul, said a source close to Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
A group of heavily-armed men led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace before dawn, but were repelled by forces loyal to Gambia’s leader of 20 years, Yahya Jammeh.
“This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name.”
The strongman, who was visiting Dubai at the time of the attack, blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists” for the assault on his presidential palace on Tuesday.
“It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK,” Jammeh said in a televised address on Wednesday, denying it was an attempt to unseat him.
“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. 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.”
Investigators have allegedly seized the plan laying out the attack, in which the three suspects, including the alleged ringleader, were killed, according to a military officer.