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Burkina Faso coup attempt thwarted, says government

Xinhua, October 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Burkina Faso government said on Friday it thwarted a military coup on October 8 by former presidential guard regiment to overthrow the current president.

The minister of internal security Simon Compaore disclosed this during a press conference in the capital Ouagadougou.

The thwarted coup involves about thirty soldiers of the former special presidential guard unit (RSP) of the ex-president Blaise Compaore currently in exile in Cote d'Ivoire, Compaore said.

Coup plotters were planning to overthrow the regime of current president Christian Kabore and had in their agenda attacks against the presidency and the gendarmerie camp of Paspanga in Ouagadougou.

They also considered attacking the military prison where generals Gilbert Diendere and Djibril Bassole, involved in previous coup attemp last year, are detained.

According to the internal security minister, plotters also contemplated to create mutinies in barracks on October 9 in the innercountry and to raise armed rebellion in case the primary coup plan failed in Burkina Faso.

On October 8, the gendarmerie arrested four suspicious persons in the central-south of the country while they were making to the capital.

"To date, 19 soldiers involved in coup plotting are under custody while one is still on the run," Simon Compaore said. Endit