Madagascan security force foiled at least three attempts to assassinate president Marc Ravalomanana since November last year, media in Antananarivo reported on Saturday.

The latest incident took place on April 3, when some individuals slipped into residence of the president in the capital city of Antananarivo, probably, with a bad intention to kill him, Prime Minister Charles Rabemananjara informed a cabinet meeting on Friday.

The security guards at the presidential residence caught them and many firearm were discovered, the French-language daily, the Express, quoted the prime minister as saying.

However, Rabemananjara did not provide any details concerning the attempt including identities of these people and their numbers.

He said he deliberately kept it secret even to government officials due to the scheduled national referendum on revision of the constitution the following day.

Until now, the government preferred not to tell more about the identity of these wrongdoers, nor the place where they have been kept.

On April 2, President Marc Ravalomanana escaped an assassination attempt by armed man who sneaked into the sport stadium, Mahamasina, here in the capital, where the president attended a mass meeting organized by his supporters.

The man was arrested by the security guards instantly when they found him behaved annormally, the prime minister told government officials including Minister of National Defense Petera Behajaina and State Secretary Harifidy Jean Seth Ramison.

On November 20 last year, presidential security guards arrested a man identified as Yvon Randriaovy at a church in Antananarivo, where the president and his family were inside, soon after they found him armed with some firearms.

Three days before the incident, on November 17, president Ravalomanana had to make a force landing in Mahajanga, one of Madagascar's six autonomous provinces, on his return from Mauritius instead of Antananarivo international airport following a rumor that an army general, identified as Andrianafidisoa, intended to overthrow him.

Source: Xinhua