Three prisoners accused of belonging to an al-Qaida-linked Algerian militant group today escaped from a jail in Mauritania’s capital, officials said.

Mauritania’s pro-West leader battled an apparent coup attempt today, as gun and tank cannon fire erupted near the presidential palace.

Five African heads of state and thousands of mourners paid their last respects to Senegal’s founding president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, who was buried today.