MUTINOUS soldiers in the Central African Republic attacked President Ange-Felix Patasse’s residence early Monday in an assault which left “many dead”, the president’s spokesman said. “The president is safe and sound,” said Patasse’s spokesman, Prosper Ndouba, adding that the battle caused the deaths of “seven members of the presidential security and many deaths among the attackers”. A French diplomat earlier said a foiled “coup bid” had cost at least seven lives, before the government stated that loyal troops were in control, blaming the assault on “individuals who have yet to be identified”. An officer in the CAR army, who asked not to be named, said that those behind the attack had freed a jailed general close to former military ruler Andre Kolingba, who ceded to Patasse after 1993 elections in the impoverished country. The officer blamed the attacks on troops who already mutinied three times in 1996 and 1997, in bloody uprisings triggered by pay demands which were put down with French military help.