New coup disclosures

Niger's late president, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, was "torn to pieces" when he was assassinated on 9 April by men firing anti-aircraft artillery weapons, AFP reported on Tuesday. In a dispatch quoting "corroborating sources" in the capital Niamey, the agency report said Mainassara had been killed by members of the presidential guard commanded by the new military leader, Major Daouda Mallam Wanke. Days after the assassination, the US State Department released a statement saying Mainassara had been shot by Wanke's guard unit. AFP said they had fired 14.5-mm shells at Mainassara using Soviet-made ZDSU guns in the killing at Niamey's military airport. Wanke, who has pledged a nine-month transition to a return to civilian rule after general and presidential elections, said in a radio interview this week that Mainassara had died in a "tragic accident".