The New York Times announced that President Bah Ndaw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, and Defense Minister Souleymane Doucoure were all taken to a military base in Kati, outside of Bamako, hours after two members of the military lost their jobs in a government reshuffle.

Their detentions come after President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was deposed by the military in August, and they may exacerbate instability in the impoverished West African country.

After the August takeover, Mr. Ndaw and Mr. Ouane were tasked with overseeing an 18-month transition back to civilian rule, but they seem to have gone against the military's influence over a variety of key positions.

“Sacking the coup's foundations was a huge miscalculation,” a top former Malian government official told Reuters. “It's likely that the efforts are targeted at getting them back to work.”

The military's ultimate objective was unclear at first. This, according to a military official in Kati, is not a detention. The source said, referring to the cabinet reshuffle, that "what they have done is not pleasant." “We're informing them that decisions will be made.”

The Kati military base, on the other hand, is a notorious place for overthrowing Malian rulers. Last August, the military detained President Keita in Kati and forced him to resign. In 2012, a mutiny there helped to depose his predecessor, Amadou Toumani Toure.