Zimbabwe crisis: Army steps in, says Mugabe safe

Zimbabwe's military has seized state TV, saying it is "targeting criminals around President Robert Mugabe for causing social and economic suffering".

A statement read out by a general on air denied it was a coup and said Mugabe and his family were safe, the BBC reported.

Heavy gun and artillery fire could be heard in northern parts of the capital Harare early on Wednesday.

The army action comes after Mugabe sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, amid a row over succession.

Mugabe has not issued any statement, but Isaac Moyo, Zimbabwe's ambassador to South Africa, said the government was "intact".

Zimbabwean daily News Day reported "strong military presence at the Robert Mugabe International Airport and quoted an eye-witness as saying that "domestic flights are operating as normal but we had to go through thorough security check points by soldiers.”

The army has announced on state broadcaster that President Robert Mugabe and family are safe but army is ‘him’

Mugabe, 93, has dominated the country's political scene since independence in 1980.