DAKAR, Aug. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed Vall, Mauritania's director of national security, has become head of Military Council for Justice and Democracy, which seized power early Wednesday, the Council said in a written statement, according to reports reaching here.

    Mauritanian army troops, including members of the presidential guard, seized control of the state radio and television in the capital early Wednesday while President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country.

    President Taya, who has survived several coup attempts during his 20-year reign, has cracked down ruthlessly against opponents, including members of the army, jailing scores of people accused of plotting to overthrow him.

    Mauritania, a sparsely populated nation of 3 million on the northwest edge of Africa, is strictly regulated by Taya who took power in a 1984 military coup. Enditem