A government source in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott said forces loyal to the president had shot at mutineers who had mounted a coup the previous day and were trying to flee.
The forces fired on the mutineers as they tried to leave the national military police headquarters where they had been holed up overnight, the source said.
It had been reported earlier that the last mutineers had surrendered to forces loyal to President Maaouiya Ould Taya and that the insurrection had been brought "totally under control".
The source said the coup was led by Salah Ould Hnana, a man the Moroccan news agency said was a former colonel sacked from the Mauritanian army, who was working with accomplices in tank units and the air force.
Calm had returned to the capital Nouakchott late on Sunday after a day of fighting between mutinous troops and forces loyal to the leader of Mauritania's pro-Western Islamic republic.
Government sources said Ould Taya was out of danger and directing the counter-coup operations, although he has not addressed his countrymen since the start of the coup around 1 a.m. yesterday.
AFP