Guinea-Bissau's army will undertake a major operation to continue seizing small arms illegally held by the public across the whole country, said reports over the weekend.

"What happened on the outskirts of Bissau on Friday night is only the beginning. I can assure you that the operation to seize illegal arms will continue across the whole nation," said armed forces chief of general staff Baptista Tagme Na Waie on Sunday

Waie said the measure is aimed to fight crime and insecurity in the country in which the number of physical aggressions and assassinations has been on increase in recent months. It came just one week after an attack claimed the life of former marine commander Muhamadu Lamine Sanha.

Hundreds of soldiers, backed by police officers from rapid response units and intelligence agents, carried out the lightning raid on Friday night to search arms in the districts of Bairo Militar and Bissack on the outskirts of Bissau.

"This operation was a real success," said Waie without elaborating further on the number of arms seized during the operation, the first of its kind in the country.

Source: Xinhua