The daughter of Mauritania's recently deposed president says security forces have taken her father from his village in the middle of the night, AP reported.
A police official says President Sidi Cheikh Abdallahi was taken into custody at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. He is being driven to the country's capital where he will be freed.
The official asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press
Abdallahi has been under house arrest since a military junta grabbed power in an Aug. 6 coup.
Both the United States and France canceled aid to the country following the coup, demanding Abdallahi's release. He has been under 24-hour surveillance for 5 1/2 months, first in a villa in the capital and later in his native village.