Soldiers were arrested in Niger after an "attempted coup" early Wednesday, a security source said, adding "the situation is under control."
"There were some arrests among a few members of the army who are behind this attempted coup. The Presidential Guard retaliated, preventing this group of soldiers from approaching the presidential palace," said the source, speaking after residents reported hearing bursts of gunfire in the night in the capital Niamey.
Residents of Niger's capital Niamey reported hearing gunfire overnight near the presidency Wednesday, days before new president Mohamed Bazoum is due to take office.
"It was around 3 a.m., we heard shots from heavy and light weapons, and it lasted for 15 minutes before stopping, followed by shots from light weapons," one resident of Niamey's Plateau district, which includes the president's official residence and offices, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "The gunfire lasted about 20 minutes," another resident said.
A third resident spoke of "intense shooting, with heavy and light weapons." Online newspaper actuniger.com reported that calm had returned by around 4 a.m. In short video clips posted on social networks, only several seconds in length, sporadic bursts of gunfire could be heard in the pitch dark.
It was not yet possible to independently verify the location and timing of the videos. No official source was immediately available to comment. The reported gunfire comes ahead of Bazoum's scheduled inauguration on Friday.
The former interior minister and right-hand man of outgoing president Mahamadou Issoufou, Bazoum's victory in the second round of the elections on Feb. 2 was confirmed by the constitutional court this month.
The results were contested by Bazoum's rival, former president Mahamane Ousmane, who claimed he was the real winner. Ousmane had called for "peaceful marches" across the country, but a planned opposition protest Wednesday in the capital Niamey was banned a day earlier by authorities.
Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, has suffered numerous coups in its history, most recently a February 2010 putsch that toppled then-president Mamadou Tandja.
The Sahel country has also recently been struck by repeated attacks as extremist movements have spilled over from neighboring Mali and Nigeria.
