Officials with the transitional government in Guinea Bissau say the suspected leader of last week's attempted coup has been arrested.

Captain Pansao Ntchama and at least two other suspects were arrested Saturday on an island just off the coast of the West African nation.

Government troops repelled the pre-dawn attack on an air force base last Sunday. Seven people were killed.

Authorities accuse Portugal, the former colonial ruler of Guinea Bissau, of being behind the the attack. They say Portugal was seeking to restore former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior to power. He was toppled in a coup in April between the first and second rounds of a presidential election.

Guinea Bissau was been wracked by coups and unrest since winning independence from Portugal in 1974.