A video grab image taken from television shows Mauritanian troops during the successful coup.  Click to see more photos.

NOUAKCHOTT, August 3, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Mauritanian President Maaouyia Ould Taya has been ousted and a military junta will rule in his place for no more than two years, a statement by the coup leadership said Wednesday, August 3.

"The military and the security forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have suffered so much in the last years," the statement read on Mauritanian TV and quoted by the Mauritanian news agency said.

"These practices have put the country on a dangerous course. For this reason, the military and security forces have decided to put in place a Military Council for Justice and Democracy."

The unidentified coup leaders pledged to "establish favorable conditions for an open and transparent democratic system on which civil society and political players will be able to give their opinions freely."

Earlier Wednesday, army troops, dominated by presidential guard members, took over the armed forces headquarters, state radio and television buildings in the capital Nouakchott in what later confirmed to be a successful coup d'etat.

The troops had moved into the buildings at 5:00 am (0500 GMT) and blocked off access to the presidential palace and government ministers, while President Maaouyia Ould Taya was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of King Fahd, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing its reporter in the northwestern African country.

Taya arrived in Niger 's capital Niamey after his plane was reportedly denied landing at the Mauritanian capital's airport.

"We have heard that there has been a coup d'etat but we don't know who's involved. We don't know whether it is something that has succeeded or failed," Sid Ahmed Abeidna, the British honorary consul in Nouakchott , told Reuters earlier.

Military vehicles equipped with heavy weaponry and anti-aircraft guns took up positions on the capital’s streets.

All state media broadcasts were interrupted and no announcement had been made by the putschists several hours after their takeover.

Mauritania 's main Nouakchott airport was closed to civilian traffic, military sources told AFP.

A foreign diplomat confirmed that the airport had been shut since 10:00 am (1000 GMT), some five hours after soldiers of the presidential guard took over key buildings in the capital.

Troops were barring entry to the airport terminal but no armored vehicles were visible, an AFP correspondent reported.

Shops in the sand-blanketed city were closed and taxis were not stopping to pick up people trying to leave the town center.

Five blasts were heard at 10:15 am (10:15 GMT) near the center of the city, whose residents were gradually taking shelter, according to Reuters.

A Reuters reporter on the border with Senegal said border guards were preventing people from leaving the country.

The French embassy in Nouakchott said it was monitoring the situation in the former colony but declined to make any further comment.

Past Coups

Taya had to land in Niger coming from Saudi Arabia . (Reuters)

Dissident soldiers came close to toppling Taya in June 2003 during two days of street fighting in Nouakchott before loyalist forces regained control.

The government says it foiled two more coup attempts in 2004.

President Taya himself seized power in a 1984 coup. Analysts said his normalization with Israel and cementing ties with Washington have alienated a broad section of society.

Mauritania -- which hopes to start pumping oil early next year -- is one of only three Arab League member states that have established diplomatic ties with Israel .

It is also, according to analysts, one of the most repressive countries in the region towards Islamist movements.

Police have arrested scores of Islamic opposition leaders and activists since April.

In May, security forces searched mosques around the capital and arrested imams, according to Reuters.

Analysts have warned that Mauritania 's attempts to stifle opposition groups by denouncing them as terrorists risks backfiring by radicalizing moderate Islamists.