Mali police question suspects in attack on ex-leader's home

Bamako (AFP) - Malian police said they were questioning three suspects in the attack on the Bamako home of former president Alpha Oumar Konare last week.

"We have made three arrests", after a robber was killed during the bungled raid by an armed gang on Friday night, police told AFP.

The three have been remanded in custody.

Nothing was immediately known about the date, place or the circumstances of the arrests, or the suspects' identity.

Konare, who was head of state from 1992 to 2002, was away from the property in the eastern outskirts of Bamako when the gang struck.

But his wife, historian Adame Ba Konare, was at home with the couple's grandchildren when the gunmen stormed the compound, a member of the family's official guard had told AFP.

"More than 10 people dressed in civilian clothes cut the electricity in the area, climbed the walls and fired inside the Konare residence," he said.

A senior officer in the national police force based in Bamako told AFP investigators were working on a theory that the robbers were members of an armed gang which specialises in stealing electric cables.

Malian police recovered "at least one mobile phone" from the body of the assailant who was killed, a source close to the force told AFP.

Since his voluntary departure from power in 2002, Konare has remained largely private, avoiding commenting on Malian political life.

Bamako is rated as "critical" for crime, by the US State Department, which says that while violent crime is infrequent, petty crimes, such as pickpocketing and theft, are common in urban areas.