Niger soldiers seize President in coup

Troops in Niger stormed the presidency complex amid deadly gunbattles in Niamey yesterday and seized President Mamadou Tandja and his Cabinet in an attempted coup d'etat, diplomats said.

Gunfire and loud explosions reverberated across the city as soldiers assaulted the palace where Mr Tandja, the country's strongman for the past decade, presided over a Cabinet meeting.

A French diplomat said Mr Tandja's own presidential guard took part in the coup.

"It happened after a Cabinet meeting. It would appear that President Tandja is currently in the hands of the rebels and that the members of the government are themselves held," the diplomat said.

An African diplomat based in the world's third-biggest uranium producer confirmed the capture, saying several senior government figures had been arrested.

"Tandja is among them. The rebels have taken the upper hand," he said, as two government ministers claimed that soldiers had "taken away" Tandja and arrested several members of his government.

Another official said that Mr Tandja was believed to be held in a military barrack on the outskirts of the capital.

"President Tandja and his aide-de-camp may be held at a garrison in Tondibia," about 20 kilometres west of Niamey, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity.

State radio suspended its programmes and played martial music as the west African country's long-simmering political tensions erupted.

Mr Tandja, 71, has spent more than a decade in power, having extended his term through a controversial referendum last August after dissolving parliament and the constitutional court. Niger has since been isolated on the international stage.

Witnesses said they saw the bodies of at least three soldiers being lifted out of a badly damaged armoured vehicle which pulled up outside the morgue of the main hospital.

One said he had seen a rocket striking the vehicle.

At least 10 soldiers were injured, a medical source said. France, the former colonial power, urged its nationals to stay indoors in a country where French nuclear giant Areva is the biggest private employer.

"We heard automatic gunfire and then large detonations. The house was shaking. It lasted about a half hour, non-stop," said Claire Deschamps, one French national living in Niamey.

She said the violence began around 1200 GMT.

Army helicopters hovered over the presidency during the afternoon.

Sporadic shooting continued into the afternoon before gradually subsiding.