Guinea-Bissau President Embalo says a coup was foiled on Friday

Guinea Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said on Saturday that gunfire and clashes that erupted in the capital of the West African nation on Friday were an attempted coup.

Clashes between two army factions broke out in Bissau on Thursday night and continued on Friday after national guard soldiers freed an opposition minister who was detained on a corruption investigation.

Bissau army said in a statement on Friday that order had been by afternoon in the tiny West African country where coups and unrest have been commonplace since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.

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