The Sierra Leone government has said that it has pushed “traitorous soldiers” who tried breaking into a military armoury in Freetown in the early hours of Sunday, November 26, back to the borders of the capital and had restored calm, after enforcing a nationwide curfew.
The West African country’s civil aviation authority had urged airlines to reschedule flights after the curfew was announced, while a soldier on its frontier with neighbouring Guinea informed Reuters they had been commanded to shut the border.
Sierra Leone has been high strung since President Julius Maada Bio was re-elected in June, a result rejected by the principal opposition candidate and questioned by international partners including the United States and the European Union.
David Taluva, Sierra Leone’s interior minister had told Reuters that the attackers had assaulted a police barrack after running out of ammunition and had confiscated more arms from police officers.
Several Reuters reporters had said that persistent gunfire could still be heard in some neighbourhoods of Freetown as residents took refuge in their homes around 15;00 GMT on Sunday, November 26.
It is yet unclear if there were any casualties in the barracks attack or during the gunfire in Freetown on Sunday, November 26 but Bah had said that security forces were making progress in arresting those involved in the attack, but they had not revealed further details.
Bah had revealed that major detention centres including the Pademba Road prisons were assaulted and inmates liberated by the unidentified assailants, confirming earlier reports from a government source.
Bio had for his part, lauded the “valiant security forces” for forcing back the “renegades” and had disclosed that calm had been restored.
