The ring leader of the coup attempt in Burundi, General Godefroid Niyombare, is on the run after escaping capture by troops loyal to the central African nation's president, a senior police official told AFP Friday.
"General Niyombare has evaded us but we know where he is hiding," the official said, adding he was believed to have fled to a southern district of the capital Bujumbura.
Niyombare had earlier Friday told AFP by telephone he was surrendering and that loyalist troops were closing in on him.
"We have decided to surrender. I hope they won't kill us," he said.
The senior police officer said three other pro-coup generals had been detained. The loyalist police official said they were still alive so they could be put on trial.
The coup leaders' spokesman, Zenon Ndabaneze, while speaking to AFP confirming that the putschists had decided to surrender when loyalist troops arrested him, deputy coup leader Cyrille Ndayirukiye and another senior figure among the mutineers.
"We decided to give ourselves up. We have laid down our arms. We have called the security ministry to tell them we no longer have any arms," Ndabaneze said, seconds before he could be heard being arrested.
"There will be no foul play. We won't kill them, we want to keep them so they can be judged," the police official told AFP after the arrests.
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