Gunfire rang out near the presidency building in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott today after soldiers surrounded the state radio station and blocked off major roads in the city, a witness said.
"I heard a burst of gunfire near the presidency. I saw scared people running away. Civil servants have all left their offices," a witness said.
Mauritania is an Islamic Republic in northwest Africa. It has a population of 2.5 million.
The soldiers surrounded the radio building and blocked off the presidency building while President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country.
"State radio has been off air since this morning. They are not letting anybody in," a witness said.
Mr Taya was in Riyadh yesterday for the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. The French embassy in Nouakchott said it was monitoring the situation but declined to make any further comment.
Dissident soldiers came close to toppling Mr Taya in June 2003 during two days of street fighting in Nouakchott before loyalist forces regained control. The government says it foiled two more coup attempts in 2004.