In October, Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo told French radio that drug trafficking and corruption were over in his country, which has struggled to shake off its reputation as a "narco state" of West Africa.
Those words rang hollow a few months later. Fierce gunfire interrupted a Cabinet meeting Embalo was presiding over, and within hours of the deadly Feb. 1 attack he described it as a failed coup attempt possibly linked to the drugs trade.
At a news conference Thursday, Embalo said three soldiers who were arrested by U.S. drug authorities in a 2013 sting operation and pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking had been detained in connection with the attack.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.