BAMAKO (Reuters) – A possible military mutiny was under way on Tuesday outside Mail’s capital Bamako, the Norwegian Embassy and a security source said.
“The embassy has been notified of mutiny in the Armed Forces and troops are on their way to Bamako. Norwegians should exercise caution and preferably stay at home until the situation is clear,” the Norwegian Embassy said in an alert to its citizens.
“Yes, mutiny. The military has taken up arms,” a security source said.
A military spokesman confirmed that gunshots were fired at the base in Kati, about 15 km (9 miles) outside Bamako, but said he did not have any further information.
A mutiny at the base in Kati led to a coup d’etat in 2012 that toppled then-President Amadou Toumani Toure and contributed to the fall of northern Mali to jihadist militants.
Opponents of the current president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, have led mass protests since June calling on Keita to resign over what they say are his failures to restore security and address corruption.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Aaron Ross; Additional reporting by David Lewis in Nairobi; Editing by John Stonestreet and Alison Williams)
