A Police officer takes cover during a mutiny by troops at a military camp near Madagascar's main airport in Antananarivo
AFP
Madagascar's army said Sunday it had put down a mutiny in a military camp by the airport Sunday, after clashes in which at least three people were killed.
"Mopping up operations are continuing," said Rarasoa Ralailomady, the army's chief spokesman. "A night operation has not been ruled out but the situation is under control."
The army took action after an officer sent to negotiate with the renegade troops was killed, reports AFP.
Four people were also injured in the ensuing clashes, said Ralailomady.
The mutiny comes ahead of a meeting Wednesday of the Indian Ocean island nation's rival leaders to try to resolve a political crisis that has dragged on since an army-backed coup in 2009 which toppled then President Marc Ravalomanana.
A diplomatic source said the mutiny could be an attempt to derail the landmark face-to-face meeting to be held in the Seychelles.
Gunfire initially erupted at the Ivatu army base near Antananarivo international airport at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) and abated after four hours but then resumed intermittently, scaring off dozens of curious onlookers, an AFP journalist said.
"This morning there was indeed a mutiny led by certain elements. The chief of staff has things in hand," Defence Minister Andre Lucien Rakotoarimasy told AFP.
"It's going on, we don't know anything about their demands for the moment," he added, refusing to specify the number of mutineers.
The leader of the renegade troops was identified as Koto Mainty, or the "Black Corporal", a former member of the mutinous regiment said, adding that several young recruits had joined him.
The Ivatu base was the scene of a mutiny in November 2010 and an attempted coup against current President Andry Rajoelina, who had ousted Ravalomanana.