Burundi coup leader on the run

The leader of coup attempt in Burundi, General Godefroid Niyombare, has gone on the run after escaping capture by troops loyal to the central African nation's president, a senior police official told AFP Friday.

"General Niyombare has evaded us but we know where he is hiding," the official said, adding he was believed to have fled to a southern district of the capital Bujumbura. Niyombare had earlier Friday told AFP by telephone he was surrendering and that loyalist troops were closing in on him.

Officials in the president's office said President Pierre Nkurunziza has returned to the capital Bujumbura and will address the nation on Friday.

"He is in Bujumbura in a very secure place," an aide to the president told AFP. "He will address the nation today."