Off the wire
• Former senior political advisor dismissed for discipline violation  • Eurozone gov't debt-to-GDP ratio falls to 91.6 pct in Q3  • Results of women's singles at Australian Open  • Chinese National Winter Games brings momentum for ski's development in birth place  • Roundup: Italy sees record year for cultural attractions despite conservation worries  • Death toll of two boat capsizes in Aegean reaches 41 victims  • Over 1,800 migrants admitted to Slovenia after new rules  • Feature: Beatrix Potter mice return home 25 years after thought extinct  • Tunisia announces nationwide curfew after protests  • Urgent: 1 killed, 3 injured in southern Afghanistan explosion  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Burkina Faso former presidential security regiment accused of attack on weapon depots

Xinhua, January 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Burkina Faso army accused former president Blaise Compaore's security regiment of an attack early Friday on the Yimdi weapons storage depot, about 15 km west to the capital city Ouagadougou.

"The perpetrators of the attempts have been identified as recalcitrant elements of the former presidential security regiment (RSP)," army spokesman Colonel William Yameogo said in a press release.

"The site is under control of Burkina Faso national armed forces and the surveillance system is reinforced", he added.

The spokesman went on to explain that the incursion attempt, launched on the local weapons warehouse, caused no fatality, however diverse security sources said the attackers had caused major damages and might have managed to carry away arms and ammunition.

The RSP is a army unit of about 1,300 trusty soldiers of Blaise Compaore, who was removed from power by popular insurrection in October 2014 after 27 years' rule.

On September 16, 2015, military members of the RSP seized power in Burkina Faso after they rushed in the council of ministers and took hostages the president of transition Michel Kafando, the Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida and government members.

The coup was short-lived and failed. Coup-leader General Gilbert Diendere had on Sept. 29 asked RSP soldiers to surrender their weapons to authorities before he was seized and handed over to the transition authorities days later. Enditem