On February 1, heavily armed men attacked government buildings in the capital Bissau while President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was chairing a cabinet meeting.

Embalo, 49, later told reporters that he had escaped the five-hour gun battle and described the attack as a plot to wipe out the government. Eleven people were killed in the attack.

A presidential decree released Friday evening said that navy commander Alfredo Mandunghal had been removed from his position, as well as army vice chief of staff Sumbonhe Na N'Tchongo.

The decree did not state the reasons for the sackings.

Embalo on February 10 said Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, a former head of the navy, was among three men arrested over the failed coup attempt.

He also linked the attack to the transatlantic drug trade.

Guinea-Bissau is a hub for the trafficking of cocaine from Latin America into Africa.

The former Portuguese colony of around two million people is also notoriously unstable and has suffered four military coups since 1974, its most recent in 2012.