Info minister says 13 army officers arrested in relation to the weekend assault in capital Freetown.
A collection of assaults on army barracks and prisons in Sierra Leone over the weekend was a failed coup try, in accordance with police and authorities officers within the West African nation.
Info Minister Chernor Bah stated that 13 army officers and one civilian have been arrested following the incident.
“The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” Bah stated on Tuesday.
“The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra Leone.”
The inspector common of police stated the tried coup “failed in the early hours of the 26th of November”.
William Fayia Sellu instructed reporters that “a group of people” had tried to illegally “unseat” the federal government with power.
Police have revealed images of 32 males and two girls it stated have been being sought in reference to the unrest. They embody serving and retired troopers and police, in addition to some civilians.
Authorities authorities have stated at the very least 20 individuals have been killed within the assaults and about 2,200 individuals additionally escaped from prisons that have been attacked.
In televised remarks on Sunday, the nation’s President Julius Maada Bio stated that “most of the leaders” of the assault had been arrested, and that the federal government would proceed to pursue the remainder.
These killed embody 13 troopers, three assailants, a police officer, a civilian and somebody working in personal safety, in accordance with authorities. Eight individuals have been additionally significantly injured.
Tensions stay in Freetown, the place checkpoints have sprung up and colleges and banks stay closed, whereas a curfew is in place from nightfall till daybreak.
Frictions within the West African nation have been constructing since a contested election in June, with President Bio profitable reelection amid issues in regards to the transparency of the election from European Union observers and United States officers.
Samura Kamara, candidate of the opposition All Folks’s Congress (APC), rejected the outcomes and stated that the election had not been credible.
The nation has additionally struggled with the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and police opened hearth on a crowd of demonstrators protesting excessive meals costs final August.