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Gambia rocked by shooting while Jammeh abroad | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Heavy gunfire has erupted near the presidential palace in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, reports say. | Heavy gunfire has erupted near the presidential palace in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, reports say. |
Details are sketchy but military and diplomatic sources say soldiers from the presidential guard tried to stage a coup, AFP news agency reports. | |
The fighting was reported while President Yahya Jammeh is abroad. | |
Mr Jammeh seized power in a coup in 1994 and his critics accuse him of leading one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. | |
There has been no official comment on the shooting, but a military source told AFP that the attackers had been beaten back. | |
"They wanted to overthrow the regime," the unnamed officer is quoted as saying. | |
Some media reports say Mr Jammeh is on a visit to France, while others say he is in Dubai. | |
In 2011, Mr Jammeh told the BBC he would rule The Gambia for "a billion years". | |
The tiny West African state, with its sandy beaches, is a popular tourist destination. | The tiny West African state, with its sandy beaches, is a popular tourist destination. |