(CNN) -- Three people were killed and several others wounded in an apparent mutiny by soldiers at a base outside Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, military authorities reported Sunday.
Police surrounded the base in Ivato, near the capital's international airport, and government officials were attempting to negotiate with the mutineers, the country's Armed Forces Ministry said. The mutineers' demands were not immediately known.
A senior military source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the mutiny involved about 90 young soldiers. All but a handful of them had given up by Sunday evening, he said.
An army communique said the ringleader was a former bodyguard to a general involved in a 2009 coup attempt.
The camp houses the army's 1st Regiment, an elite force. Shooting began around 5 a.m. (10 p.m. Saturday ET), with sporadic gunfire reported throughout the day.
The mutiny took place ahead of Wednesday talks between ousted President Marc Ravalomanana and the country's transitional leader, Andry Rajoelina, in Seychelles.
Ravalomanana was toppled in a 2009 coup in the Indian Ocean island nation. The country's military handed power to Rajoelina, who survived another coup attempt by renegade officers in 2010.
Ravalomanana has twice attempted to return from exile in South Africa, most recently in January. That attempt failed when aviation authorities in Madagascar refused permission for his aircraft to land.
Journalist Njaka Adriamahery contributed to this report for CNN.
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