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Sierra Leone has lifted a nationwide curfew imposed on Sunday after armed men attacked a military barracks and prisons in Freetown.

However, night curfews are set to come into effect from 9pm until 6am.

President Julius Maada Bio has addressed the nation, describing the events as an attack on democracy but did not name the perpetrators or speak of an attempted coup.

Chernor Bah is Sierra Leone鈥檚 Minister of Information. He told Newsday: 鈥淎 group of assailants attacked and tried to gain control of a major military armoury鈥�not far from where the President resides鈥�and they laid their hands on some weapons鈥�they attacked other major installations across the country including a major detention facility鈥�our prisons were overrun, and hundreds of prisoners were indeed released.鈥�

He added a 鈥渕anhunt鈥� is currently underway and while he could not confirm whether the 鈥渃o-ordinated鈥� attack was a coup, he said 鈥淚nvestigations are ongoing on the identity of the assailants鈥�we know that they do include current and former military officials. I can confirm that鈥�Once we can ascertain the full intent of their actions and have gathered enough evidence on this, we will make a declaration on whether it was in fact an attempted coup. What is clear, is whatever it was, it failed.鈥�

(Picture: Shows empty streets of Freetown following implementation of a nationwide curfew following attacks on military barracks in Freetown, Sierra Leone, 26 November 2023. Credit: Ibrahim Barrie via EPA.)

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