( CNN ) -- The transitional government of Guinea-Bissau said its forces killed six people amid an attack on the barracks of an elite military unit near the capital 's airport . The transitional authorities , which took power in the West African nation after military commanders overthrew the previous government in April , said they believed the attempt to seize control of the barracks on Saturday night was led by people loyal to the former prime minister Carlos Gomes Jr . The government said the assault was a `` premeditated action aiming at destabilizing the legal order and whose main aim is to create a political situation where an international force in Guinea-Bissau could be justified . '' Six attackers were killed in the fighting at the Para-Commando barracks , two were captured and an unspecified number remain at large , the government said . It added that one government soldier was wounded . Gomes Jr. and the former interim president Raimundo Pereira fled to Portugal after the generals ousted them in April on accusations they had agreed a `` secret deal '' to let Angolan troops into the country to attack the military . The coup prompted international condemnation and calls for a return to civilian rule by the African Union , the United Nations and Western powers . Guinea-Bissau suspended from African Union . The regional Economic Community of West African States brokered a deal to set up the current transitional government , which has until May to organize presidential and legislative elections . The regional body agreed to deploy about 600 peacekeeping troops in Guinea-Bissau to monitor the transition and replace the Angolan soldiers that were in the country . Angola had said its military personnel were there to help reform the Guinea-Bissau armed and security forces . Coups and coup attempts have taken place repeatedly in Guinea-Bissau since it won independence from Portugal in 1974 . To date , no democratically elected president of the country has served a full five-year term . Pereira became interim president after the January death of incumbent Malam Bacai Sanha after a long illness . Sanha had become president in September 2009 after the assassination of his predecessor , Joao Bernardo Vieira . Guinea-Bissau is a small coastal nation of about 1.6 million people sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea . TIME : Guinea-Bissau : How cocaine transformed a tiny nation .
Two attackers are captured and others remain at large , authorities say . The transitional government blames forces loyal to the former prime minister . Military commanders ousted the previous government in April . Coup and coup attempts have taken place repeatedly in Guinea-Bissau .