Sierra Leone

Leaders of attacks on Sierra Leone's military arrested as curfew eases

Sierra Leone's president said most leaders of attacks on the nation's main military barracks and prisons had been arrested and normalcy had returned across the country after a 24-hour curfew was relaxed to a dusk-to-dawn lockdown. The attacks early Sunday morning surprised residents and security forces in the West African nation and raised fears of a possible coup in a troubled region. But most of the leaders of the attacks now have been arrested and calm has been restored", President Julius Maada Bio said in a Sunday night address. Residents in the capital city of Freetown were awoken by sounds of heavy gunfire as gunmen tried to break into the key armoury in the country's largest military barracks, located near the presidential villa. They engaged in sustained gunfire with security forces and targeted major detention centres including the central prison holding more than 2,000 inmates and freed or abducted an unconfirmed number of people, authorities said. Videos on social med

Nationwide curfew in Sierra Leone after gunmen attack military barracks

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio declared a nationwide curfew on Sunday after gunmen attacked military barracks in the West African nation's capital, raising fears of a breakdown of order amid a surge of coups in the region. The unidentified gunmen attacked a military armoury within the barracks in the capital, Freetown, early morning, Bio said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that they were driven back by security forces and calm has been restored. As the combined team of our Security Forces continue to root out the remnant of the fleeing renegades, a nationwide curfew has been declared and citizens are encouraged to stay indoors, he wrote. Bio was reelected for a second term in June in a disputed vote in which the main opposition party accused Sierra Leone's electoral commission of conspiring with his party to rig the results. It was the country's fifth presidential election since the end of a brutal 11-year civil war more than two decades a

Indian-origin bizman helps banks open remote branches for $150

The start-up has acquired more than 30 client banks and financial institutions across Africa and Southeast Asia

Fuel tanker blast in Sierra Leone capital kills 84, injures over 100

The tanker exploded in a suburb of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, CNN reported

312 dead, 2,000 homeless as mudslides, flooding sweep Sierra Leone

Bodies were carried away, houses submerged, where roads turned into churning rivers of mud, corpses

Sierra Leone says no ransom paid for diplomat Nelson Williams' abduction in Nigeria

Williams was traveling on a major highway well known for armed robbery and abductions