Heavy gunfire have been reported in Guinea-Bissau‘s capital Friday morning, hours after some National Guard soldiers went to “set free” a detained minister and a senior state official.

The finance minister, Souleiman Seidi, and the secretary of state for the treasury, Antonio Monteiro, had been detained amid investigations into the alleged irregular withdrawal of $10m of state funds.

The duo were questioned on Thursday afternoon by an anti-corruption inquiry to clarify the payments to 11 companies. After the questioning, they were both arrested and detained so as not to jeopardise the investigations. Calm is said to have now been restored.

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is currently out of the country, attending the UN’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai.