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Soldier Who Shot and Wounded Guinea's Junta Leader Reportedly Arrested

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Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara
Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara

Journalist Mamadou Dian Balde says Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was shot by an aide, Aboubacar Toumba Diakite

Guinea’s security forces were said to be on high alert Thursday night after renegade soldiers shot and wounded the country's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

Communication minister Idrissa Cherif reportedly said the junta leader was doing well and that his life was not in danger.

Mamadou Dian Balde, a journalist for the Independent newspaper in Guinea’s capital, Conakry said Aboubacar Toumba Diakite, a close aide to President Dadis Camara, is blamed for the attack.

“Mr. Tateleti Faro, the general secretary of the President of Guinea said on the television that an unfortunate incident happened today when men of Aboubacar Toumba Diakite shot the President, Moussa Dadis Camera, but he was not seriously wounded,” he said.

Balde said the military junta assured Guineans that they were in control of the situation.

He said the shooting occurred at Camp Koundara, the barracks for Dadis Camara’s presidential guard where the president had gone to investigate an earlier shooting.

“When the president heard that there was shooting down town, the president left Camp Alphayaya where he lives and he went to check what was happening down town in Camp Koundara. And according to sources, gendarmes were trying to arrest Toumba Diakite and he opened fire again and wounded the president,” Balde said.

Balde said Toumba Diakite and his men had earlier opened fire at a barracks for gendarmes where Toumba Diakite had gone to free one his men who had been arrested there for stealing.

He said Toumba Diakite, as aide to Dadis Camara, was blamed for the killing of more than 150 protesters at an opposition rally September 28.

“When the president heard that opponents were demonstrating on the stadium, he personally would like to go there. But his aide-de-camp told him to stay. So Toumba Diakite went there with his men and they are accused to have killed more than 150 demonstrators,” Balde said.

Balde said after the September 28 killings, Defense Minister Sekouba Konate asked junta leader Moussa Camara to sack Toumba Diakite, but at the time Dadis Camara refused.

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