CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — A military official says that 26 Malian nationals who are suspected rebels are being expelled from the country. They are being driven to the town of Kouremalen, located at the Guinea-Mali border where they will be handed over to Malian authorities.

Cmdr. Alpha Barry, spokesman for the Guinea's paramiltary police, said on Tuesday those being expelled are from Gao in northern Mali and they arrived around a month ago and set up boutiques in the Matoto neighborhood of the Guinean capital.

Barry said, "They were holding meetings every week, which was suspicious. So we took them in for questioning."

Hamidou Tely, a Malian living in Conakry who knows those being expelled, said they are not rebels, just refugees who had come from Mali's troubled north to earn a living.