BANJUL, (Reuters) – Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh said he was returning home from Chad late yesterday, after gunfire erupted around the presidential palace in the Gambian capital of Banjul last night.
The government denied reports of an attempted coup, but a diplomat said gunmen had attacked Gambia’s State House. Although shooting had died down, a senior West African diplomat told Reuters gunmen controlled parts of the capital on Tuesday.
Jammeh was abroad, either in France or Dubai, when the violence broke out. Callers on opposition online radio stations urged residents to rise up and keep him from returning.
