Conakry: The attempted assassination of Guinea's junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara this week was a "coup attempt" by his aide de camp, who "wanted to seize power," a junta spokesman said on Sunday.
"It was an attempted coup, he (aide de camp Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite) wanted to seize power," said spokesman Idrissa Cherif.
Cherif described the scene as a "trap" in which Camara answered Diakite's call to come to the Koundara military camp, although the spokesman was not himself a witness.
He claimed that Diakite and his men opened fire. "Those who were with the president (Camara) were killed. One of the body guards who threw himself on top of the President to protect him, they killed him, they hit him with an axe, they took out an eye," said Cherif.
He also said Camara's driver was killed, but did not indicate how many of the junta leader's entourage died.
According to Cherif, Diakite spoke on his walkie-talkie and said: "We killed the President, power is in my hands, I am the new strongman of this country."
But the spokesman's account of what happened on Thursday did not explain how Camara's life was saved.
The leader of the junta which took power in a bloodless coup a year ago after the death of long-time ruler Lansana Conte suffered a head wound and was airlifted to Morocco on Friday for medical treatment.
Camara underwent a "minor operation" on Saturday and was in stable condition, according to Cherif.
Meanwhile, Diakite said on Saturday that he was still at large and "in a safe place" inside Guinea with "a fair number of men”.
Guinea's junta has offered a large reward for the capture of Diakite.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, December 06, 2009, 19:54