The World - News from March 9, 1988
Security forces crushed an attempted coup in the tiny West African island state of Sao Tome and Principe and killed two of the 40 armed rebels who landed in canoes in the Marxist-ruled nation, a government official said. Information Ministry official Joao Carlos said most of the attackers were captured as they tried to seize national police headquarters on the coast of the former Portuguese colony. One policeman was wounded. Portuguese Radio reported from Sao Tome that the rebels boarded canoes from a larger craft anchored offshore. President Manuel Pinto da Costa blamed the coup attempt on the opposition National Resistance Front of Sao Tome and Principe, based in Gabon. The two-island nation lies about 125 miles off the west coast of Gabon.
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