9 military officers arrested for coup plot

Niger's government has arrested nine military officers for planning a coup, the interior minister said on Saturday, doubling the number of arrests the president announced earlier this week.

President Mahamadou Issoufou said in a televised address on Thursday the alleged coup-plotters had planned on using aerial firepower and prevented the movement of military assets from the capital Niamey to the southern region of Diffa.

Issoufou was elected in 2011, a year after a coup, and is running for a second term in polls scheduled for Feb. 21. Political tension is already high, with critics accusing him of repression and expressing doubts about the latest claims.

"Nine identified officers identified as responsible for the attempted coup have been arrested and will be presented before a military court," Hassoumi Massaoudou, Niger's interior minister, told journalists.

The government had previously said four senior officials had been arrested, including the former military chief of staff, General Souleymane Salou, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Haoua, who headed Niamey's air force base.

Political opponents said they did not believe the government's claims.

"We don't see any evidence of the attempted coup," said opposition leader Amadou Boubacar Cisse. "Rather, he (Issoufou) has created a lot of problems around the election and has taken fraudulent actions with the electoral list."

In December the government announced it would audit its voter register before the presidential election after demands lodged by opposition parties.