Burkina Faso junta confirms attempted coup, ‘four arrested, two on the run’

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Burkina Faso said on Thursday that four officers had been detained, a day after the military government announced it had thwarted a coup attempt.

The four are suspected of involvement in a “conspiracy against state security”, military prosecutor Ahmed Ferdinand Sountoura said in a statement on Thursday.

Two others are “on the run” according to the statement.

The junta said late on Wednesday that the intelligence and security services had foiled a coup attempt the previous day.

The military government said it would seek to shed “all possible light on this plot”.

It comes nearly a year to the day since junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in the West African nation on September 30, 2022.

His takeover was the country’s second coup in eight months — both triggered in part by discontent at failures to stem a raging jihadist insurgency, which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

The military prosecutor has urged anyone with information that can “contribute to the manifestation of the truth to come to testify”.

Late on Tuesday, thousands of people had taken to the streets of the capital Ouagadougou following a call from Traore supporters to “defend” him amid rumours of a coup on social media.