Sierra Leone's main opposition party, the All People's Congress (APC), has condemned the incidents of Sunday, November 26, when armed men broke into a military armoury and prisons in the capital Freetown.
Hundreds of prisoners were illegally released, while attempts to snatch guns at the Wilberforce Barracks were unsuccessful, Information Minister Chernor Bah said on Sunday.
Police said on Tuesday that an investigation revealed that the attackers were current and former soldiers, who were attempting to stage a "coup" against President Julius Maada Bio.
The clashes left at least 21 people, including 13 soldiers, dead, the government said.
'Dastardly acts of violence'
APC party, which sponsored Samura Kamara, President Bio's main challenger in the June 24, 2023 election, has condemned the Sunday happenings, terming them "dastardly acts of violence."
"The party has carefully followed these unacceptable violent events with grave concern," APC said in a statement.
The party, however, denied allegations of being behind last weekend's security breach.
"We categorically condemn any attempt to associate our party with any form of violence. As a responsible political party, we strongly believe in the assumption of power through the ballot box and not through the barrel of a gun."
Bio's disputed win
APC added that it had maintained "vehement condemnation of the use of brutal force by any party to gain and /or retain power."
The party has repeatedly accused President Bio of retaining power through unlawful means at the ballot box.
Bio, who ran on the Sierra Leone People's Party ticket, got 1.57 million votes (56.17%) against Kamara's 1.15 million (41.16%) to secure re-election.
In their recent statement, APC party officials maintained that the June elections were "lacking in transparency and fraught with statistical inaccuracies/possibilities."
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