Security services had for months been monitoring "a group of individuals who were preparing a plot against the state's institutions" and swooped on one of their meetings in the capital yesterday, Moussa Faki said.
Some of them "responded by firing on the security forces. One officer was shot dead and in response two members of the group were gunned down. The others were arrested," Faki said on the sidelines of a meeting in Brazzaville.
Speaking before the foreign ministry update, some police sources spoke of six deaths, while others claimed eight were killed in the incident, "three of whom were security forces".
The government serving under President Idriss Deby Itno, who himself came to power in a 1990 coup, yesterday said a "small group" had been planning "a destabilisation plot" while police and opposition sources said one of the detainees was an opposition lawmaker.
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The situation appeared calm in the Chadian capital today, with residents going about their usual day-to-day activities.
"A small group of ill-intentioned individuals attempted to carry out a destabilisation plot against the institutions of the republic," the government said in a statement yesterday.
It added that the army had "neutralised" the group and that the arrested ringleaders had been handed over to prosecutors for investigation.
"This small group... Had been conspiring for more than four months to jeopardise the country's hard-won peace," it said.
Between 2005 and 2010, Deby's regime faced rebellions that destabilised large swathes of the vast country.
A police source said that "several civilians and soldiers, including Saleh Makki," an opposition lawmaker, had been arrested.