Dozens of military personnel and civilians have been arrested and a large cache of weapons and explosives confiscated following a reported coup attempt in the West African country. ?
Intelligence sources close to Gambia?s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) said Thursday that the detained suspects, held in or near the capital, Banjul, have been interrogated.
Gambia?s President Yahya Jammeh has accused unidentified foreign dissidents and ?terrorists? for an attack on the presidential palace earlier this week, but he denied that the assault was an attempt to topple him.
?It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK,? Jammeh said in a televised speech Wednesday. ?This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name.?
The Gambian president also said that the weapons seized by security forces had been made in the United States.
On Tuesday, gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in Banjul?by a group of heavily armed men, known to be dissatisfied members of the armed forces.
The pre-dawn apparent coup attempt was foiled by the military while President Jammeh was not in the country.
The United States on Thursday denied it had any role in the apparent coup attempt in the African country.
Jammeh has been in power since 1994, after a coup ousted Gambia?s founding leader Sir Dawda Jawara.
Source: AR/NN/MHB
