[ 2012-10-21 ]

Six dead in attack on Guinea-Bissau army barracks
BISSAU (AFP) - Gunmen raided a Guinea-Bissau army
barracks housing an elite unit near the capital's
airport on Sunday, sparking a gunbattle that left
at least six people dead, an AFP correspondent and
a military source said.

The pre-dawn attack is certain to add to tensions
in the deeply troubled west African country, where
a junta seized power in a coup in April.

Unidentified armed men launched the assault on at
about 4:00 am (0400 GMT), but soldiers fought off
the attack after about an hour of fighting,
forcing the assailants to flee, witnesses said.

An AFP journalist at the scene said he saw the
bodies of five attackers while a guard at the
barracks was also killed, a surviving comrade told
AFP.

A military source confirmed the attack but would
not say whether there had been any casualties
among the elite "red beret" ground force unit
targeted in the raid.

Army vehicles were criss-crossing the capital in
the hours after the raid, although an AFP
journalist said the situation remained was calm.

There was no information immediately available
about who carried out the attack, but observers
said there was some anger in the military about a
recent round of promotions.

Since independence from Portugal in 1974, the army
and state in the chronically unstable nation of
1.6 million people have remained in constant
conflict, and no president has ever completed a
full term in office.

The instability has helped make Guinea-Bissau a
hotbed of cocaine trafficking to Europe.

After the April coup, orchestrated by army chief
of staff General Antonio Indjai, the junta that
had seized power reached a deal with a group of
political leaders to hand control over to a
transitional government led by interim president
Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo.

The coup interrupted a presidential election
between the first and second rounds, and the
transition deal calls for new polls in 2013.

But the ousted African Party for the Independence
of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which is
excluded from the interim government, has refused
to recognise it.

Source - AFP

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