LIBREVILLE – British mercenary Simon Mann, granted amnesty for a 2004 failed coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday left the west African country on a private jet, an airport official said.

"He left with members of his family around 7:00 a.m. (0600 GMT)," the official told AFP.

"The plane should be going to Britain," he added but did not give details of the flight plan.

Sources had said on Tuesday that Mann, who is 57, could go to another country than Britain.

Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday pardoned and freed Mann, South African Nick du Toit and three others who were jailed for the 2004 bid to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The British and South African mercenary leaders had been jailed for 34 years each for their role in the plot.

The former British Special Air Service officer underwent hernia surgery last year and his state of health was one of the reasons for the amnesty, national radio said, announcing a November 2 decree.