Burkina Faso

OUAGADOUGOU, Jan 28 (Reuters) - West Africa's main regional bloc on Friday suspended Burkina Faso from its governing bodies over this week's military coup but stopped short of imposing any sanctions, its member states said in a statement.

Burkina Faso's army overthrew President Roch Kabore on Monday, presenting the latest test to the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has struggled to mount an effective response to a series of coups in the region over the past 18 months.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — People in Burkina Faso awoke to a new military-led junta Tuesday, after mutinous soldiers ousted democratically elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and seized control of the country.

Days of gunfire and uncertainty in the capital, Ouagadougou, ended Monday evening when more than a dozen soldiers on state media declared that the country is being run by their new organization, the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the rebellious soldiers told The Associated Press by phone early Monday. They did not say where Kabore is being held, but said he is in a safe place.

Gunshots were heard late Sunday night near the president’s residence and in the early hours of Monday a battle took place at the presidential palace while a helicopter flew overhead. The roads of the capital were empty Sunday night except for checkpoints heavily guarded by mutinous soldiers.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Heavy gunfire rang out at a military base in Burkina Faso’s capital early Sunday, prompting fears that a coup attempt was underway after weeks of growing frustration with the government’s handling of the Islamic insurgency wracking the country.

The government put out a statement acknowledging gunfire in army barracks but denying an army takeover of the country. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has not been detained, according to Defense Minister Aime Barthelemy Simpore.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces fired tear gas at protesters barricading the streets and throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as anger grows at the government’s inability to stop jihadist attacks spreading across the country.

Several hundred people marched through downtown Ouagadougou chanting for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to resign.

OUAGADOUGOU, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Forty-one people had been killed in an ambush carried out on Thursday by armed terrorist groups against a column of civilian fighters from the homeland defense volunteers (VDP), in Burkina Faso's northern Lorum province, government spokesman Alkassoum Maiga announced Saturday in a statement.

According to the same source, the identification of the victims is still underway by the national gendarmerie.

The government strongly condemns this barbarity, and the president has decreed national mourning of forty-eight hours on Sunday and Monday.

OUAGADOUGOU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in Burkina Faso fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the West African nation's capital Ouagadougou on Saturday, state-owned news agency AIB reported.

It said that tension remains high between demonstrators and the police as the demonstrators burned tires on the streets. They also erected barricades to prevent traffic.

During the demonstration, one person was injured and evacuated by the fire brigade, it reported.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as tensions rose across the conflict-riddled nation with the population angry at the government’s inability to stem violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

Several hundred protestors took to the streets, calling for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to resign. The army and police drove through downtown Ouagadougou, the capital, during clashes with protesters, who barricaded streets, set fire to tires and threw rocks and bricks.

OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 13 (NNN-IRIN) – Seven police officers were killed and five others injured, in an ambush by gunmen yesterday, in the Sahel region in Burkina Faso, the police said in the capital, Ouagadougou.

According to a police statement, the ambush targeted a squad of the Republic’s security companies officers of Dori, while in a mission to ensure security on Dori-Essakane road axis, in Seno province, yesterday morning.

OUAGADOUGOU, Oct 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two soldiers were killed when their motorcycles ran over a homemade bomb in southeast Burkina Faso on Monday, the latest attack in a region previously spared the jihadist violence of the
north.

  The West African country has faced increasingly frequent and deadly attacks by jihadists forces linked to the Daesh group or Al-Qaeda since 2015.

  The violence has killed around 2,000 people and forced 1.4 million to flee their homes.