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The military has taken over Zimbabwe, placing President Robert Mugabe under house arrest and detaining senior government officials in what many are expecting to be the beginning of a transition of power.

Military officials denied carrying out a coup as they took over the state TV and broadcast a message insisting the president and his wife were “secure”, adding that they were targeting a ring of government plotters following a power struggle that saw the vice-president flee the country last week.

Jacob Zuma, the South African president, said he had spoken to Mr Mugabe by phone who told him he was “confined to his home but said that he was fine”.

"It is not a military takeover of government," an army spokesman said in a televised statement. "We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice. As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy."