DAKAR, Senegal - Renegade soldiers in armored vehicles stormed Niger's presidential palace with a hail of gunfire during broad daylight Thursday in an apparent coup attempt in the uranium-rich West African nation. Military music played on state radio later in the evening …quot; the same music that aired after two previous coups in the late 1990s …quot; and the strongman president's whereabouts was unknown. Government officials could not be reached for comment. Smoke rose from the white-hued multistory palace complex and the echo of machine-gunfire for at least 20 minutes sent frightened residents running for cover, emptying the desert country's downtown boulevards at midday. Traore Amadou, a local journalist who was in the presidency when the shooting began, said President Mamadou Tandja was kidnapped by mutinous troops. It was unclear whether the septuagenarian leader was still at the palace. Tandja first took power in democratic elections in 1999 that followed an era of coups and rebellions. But instead of stepping down as mandated by law on Dec. 22, he triggered a political crisis by pushing through a new constitution last August that removed term limits and gave him near-totalitarian powers. Niger has become increasingly isolated since then, with the 15-nation regional bloc of West African states suspending Niger from its ranks and the U.S. government cutting off non-humanitarian aid and imposing travel restrictions on some government officials. Niger has gained notoriety in recent years with a spate of kidnappings in its lawless northern deserts. A low-level rebellion finally calmed last year in the uranium-rich north, where al-Qaida's North Africa branch has claimed responsibility for taking a handful of foreigners hostage, including a Canadian later freed who was the U.N.'s special envoy. The nation's latest troubles began suddenly in Niamey on Thursday afternoon, when gunfire broke out around the impoverished nation's small presidency. "Armored vehicles came into the palace and began shooting at the building," said Moussa Mounkaila, a palace driver. He said the mutinous troops had come from a military barracks at Tondibia, about 7 miles (12 kilometers) west of the capital.
