HEAVY GUNFIRE REPORTED IN BURKINA FASO BARRACKS, GOV’T DENIES ARMY TAKEOVER

Sun 23 January 2022:

After gunfire exchanged at various army barracks, including two in the capital, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s leadership claims the army did not seize control of the country on Sunday.

According to a Reuters correspondent, heavy weapons firing began as early as 5:00 a.m. (0500 GMT) at the capital’s Sangoule Lamizana camp, which houses the army’s general command and a prison whose detainees include troops engaged in a failed 2015 coup attempt.

Soldiers were afterwards seen firing into the air at the camp, according to the reporter. Gunfire was also heard at a military camp in Kaya, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Ouagadougou, according to a witness.

“Information on social media would have people believe there was an army takeover,” government spokesman Alkassoum Maiga said in a statement on Sunday.

“The government, while recognising the validity of shootings in some barracks, denies this information and calls on the population to remain calm.”

The shooting came a day after police and demonstrators clashed during protests against the government’s failure to stop the bloodshed that has ravaged the West African country.

It also comes after the arrest of a number of troops earlier this month on suspicion of plotting to “destabilize institutions” in the West African country, which has a long history of coups.

According to the AFP news agency, a soldier stationed in Ouagadougou’s western suburbs corroborated the reports of gunfire. There were also reports of “increasingly heavy firing” among the locals.

According to military reports, shots were heard at another military camp, Baby Sy, in the capital’s south, and at an aviation facility near the airport.

Residents in the northern towns of Kaya and Ouahigouya told AFP that gunshots was heard at barracks.

Since 2015, groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have terrorized the landlocked Sahel nation, murdering hundreds.

Attacks against citizens and military have become more common, with the majority of them centered in the country’s north and east.

According to the national emergency service, armed groups have driven nearly 1.5 million people to evacuate their homes in recent years, with many settling in the Kaya region.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES | FILA PHOTO

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