OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) \u2014 Gunfire rang out late Sunday near the home of Burkina Faso\u2019s embattled President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, raising the specter that a military coup might still be under way after mutinous soldiers seized a military base earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government officials had sought to reassure people that the situation was under control even as shots rang out for hours at the army base. But by day\u2019s end anti-government protesters supporting the mutineers also had set fire to a building belonging to Kabore\u2019s party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not immediately known whether Kabore was at home but several people in the area told The Associated Press that in addition to gunfire they could hear helicopters hovering overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A mutinous soldier also told AP by phone that heavy fighting was under way near the presidential palace, a claim that could not immediately be independently corroborated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunday\u2019s mutiny came one day after the latest public demonstration calling for Kabore\u2019s resignation as anger has mounted over the government\u2019s handling of the Islamic insurgency. Anti-government protesters lent public support to the mutinous soldiers, prompting security forces to use tear gas to disperse crowds in the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which already has suspended Mali and Guinea in the past 18 months over military coups, issued a statement of support for Burkina Faso\u2019s embattled president and urged dialogue with the mutineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defense Minister Aime Barthelemy Simpore told state broadcaster RTB that a few barracks had been affected by unrest not only in the capital of Ouagadougou but in other cities, too. He denied, however, that the president had been detained by the mutineers, even though Kabore\u2019s whereabouts remained unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) \u2014 Gunfire rang out late Sunday near the home of Burkina Faso\u2019s embattled President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, raising the specter that a military coup might still be under way after mutinous soldiers seized a military base earlier in the day. Government officials had sought to reassure people that the situation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16,15],"tags":[130,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-politics","10":"tag-burkina-faso-2","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n