By Kemo Cham
The Sierra Leone government has said that it has rebuffed an attempt to break into a military armory in the early hours of Sunday morning, which has led to heavy gun firing in parts of the capital, Freetown.
Residents of the city were woken by sounds of gun shots from around the country’s main military barracks at Wilberforce in the west end of the city. The military facility is located near the Presidential Lodge, the official residence of the president.
There have been rumours that the “unidentified” attackers attempted to overrun the compound.
Some other reports suggested that the insurgents succeeded in taking away some weapons from the armory.
There are even unverified reports on social media suggesting bomb explosions.
But the statement issued by Cherno Bah, Minister of Information and Civic Education and government spokesman, only said that state security forces were under control, indicating that they were in pursuit of those behind the attempt to break into the armory.
Mr Bah also announced the imposition of a nationwide curfew.
“To enable the security forces to continue the process of apprehending the suspects, a nationwide curfew is declared with immediate effect across the country,” he said, calling on citizens to remain indoors.
There was no mention about the whereabouts of the president and his family.
But Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, also said stressed that the government is in “full control” of the situation.
“For now, we call on all citizens to stay safely at home,” he wrote.
This is a developing story.
