The Gambian government says it has foiled a coup plot led by two officers in the presidential bodyguard.

An interior ministry statement said one of them -- the state guards commander, Lieutenant Landing Sanneh, was in detention after being wounded resisting arrest; the other alleged ringleader Lieutenant Almamo Manneh had been killed when he opened fire at loyal troops trying to arrest him.

The ministry said the plot had been uncovered after investigations lasting several months.

The announcement came after shooting was heard at the national radio station in the capital, Banjul. The Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh, himself seized power as a junior officer in 1994 and then won the presidency in multi-party elections two years later.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service