Shots fired between Mali president's guards, ex-junta
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Gunfire broke out in Mali's capital on Monday, with troops who took part in last month's military coup and the guard of the newly installed president exchanging shots, witnesses said.
The shooting in central Bamako followed an attempt by junta loyalists to arrest a member of the presidential guard, witnesses said.
The guardsmen, or ‘Red Berets,’ have voiced anger over the arrest of the former army chief by soldiers who took part in the March 22 coup that toppled ex-president Amadou Toumani Toure weeks before an election.
The US embassy in Bamako, through its Twitter account, reported the shooting, but did not specify the groups involved.
"Gunfire reported in ACI2000, vicinity of ORTM, and possibly other areas of #Bamako. U.S. Citizens advised to shelter in place," the embassy tweeted.
The message referred to the office of the national television and radio station (ORTM), which the junta seized on the night of its coup and has continued to occupy.
The forces loyal to the junta also came under fire in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako, although it was not clear from whom. "I am coming under fire," Samba Coulibaly, a member of the former junta, said.
Another military sources also said there had been shots fired and that civilians were leaving the town.
A group of renegade soldiers seized power in a coup on March 22, toppling president Amadou Toumani Toure and shattering the landlocked country's image as a democratic success story in the region.
Under diplomatic pressure from Mali's partners and military pressure from an advancing rebellion in northern Mali, the junta agreed to hand power over to Dioncounda Traore, the former parliament speaker, who was sworn in as interim president on April 12, but the situation in the country remains volatile.
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