Global General
Guinea junta chief wounded in attack by soldiers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-04 07:02
* Junta says Camara "slightly wounded" in attack
* Gunfire heard across capital Conkary
CONAKRY: Guinea's junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was wounded in an attack by his own soldiers in the capital Conakry on Thursday, state television said.
Witnesses said gunshots rang out across the city in the worst unrest in Guinea, the world's top exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite, since a Sept. 28 crackdown on opposition protesters that rights groups said killed more than 150 people.
"President Moussa Dadis Camara was slightly wounded. Very fortunately, his life is not in danger," a statement read out on state television said after the incident.
Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said of the attack: "Those that orchestrated this insurrection will be punished."
Speaking by telephone, he named a close Camara aide, Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, as being behind it.
"He has been found," Cherif said.
Diakite was the lieutenant widely cited as leading the September crackdown on opponents of Guinea's military junta.
Witnesses said Conakry appeared calm after the incident in the early evening, with hardly any traffic on the streets.
The incident happened as international investigators were in Guinea carrying out a U.N.-backed inquiry into the September killings.
"There was some shooting and there are soldiers all over town," one diplomat in the city said.
"What we are hearing is that they either arrested Toumba or were going to arrest him and he shot at Dadis. There is no doubt that this is linked to the investigation," the diplomat said.
Camara came to power in a bloodless coup last December after the death of strongman leader Lansana Conte. He initially promised to allow a transition to civilian rule but has since delayed elections and refused to hand over power.
His junta has been hit with international sanctions including weapons embargoes, visa bans and freezes on foreign bank assets.
