Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned late on Tuesday, hours after mutinying soldiers seized him from his home following months of mass protests against alleged corruption and worsening security in the West African country.

Speaking on national broadcaster ORTM around midnight, a distressed Keita said his resignation - three years before his final term was due to end - was effective immediately. He also declared the dissolution of his government and the National Assembly.

"If today, certain elements of our armed forces want this to end through their intervention, do I really have a choice?" Keita said in a brief address from a military base in Kati outside the capital Bamako where he had been detained earlier in the day.

"I wish no blood to be shed to keep me in power," he said. "I have decided to step down from office."

It was not immediately clear who was leading the revolt, who would govern in Keita's absence or what the mutineers wanted.

Images posted earlier on social media said to be taken at the Kati garrison showed Keita and his Prime Minister Boubou Cisse surrounded by armed soldiers.

SOURCE: ALAJAZEERA