Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore was detained at a military barracks by mutinous soldiers on Monday, according to four security sources and a West African ambassador, following heavy gunfire surrounding his mansion in the city Ouagadougou on Sunday night.
His detention came after soldiers in the West African country fired continuous gunfire from military installations all day Sunday, demanding more support in their struggle against Islamist insurgents. The army had seized power, according to the government.
On Monday morning, Kabore’s exact location and the situation remained unknown, with contradicting rumors circulating among security and diplomatic sources.
Several presidential fleet armored vehicles, damaged with gunshots, were seen near the president’s mansion. Blood was splattered on one of them. Overnight, residents in the president’s neighborhood reported hearing a lot of shootings.
Outside the state broadcaster’s offices, three armored trucks and troops wearing balaclavas were stationed.
On Monday, no one from the government could be reached.
In recent months, Kabore has seen waves of mass protests as anger has grown over the repeated killings of civilians and soldiers by terrorists, some of whom have ties to the Islamic State and al Qaeda.
In November, militants attacked a gendarmerie post in Inata, northern Soum, killing 49 military police personnel and four civilians. The men stationed there had run out of food and had been forced to slaughter animals in the area for two weeks, it was later revealed.
On Sunday, protesters came out in favor of the mutineers and trashed Kabore’s political party headquarters. The government imposed a curfew from 2000 GMT to 0530 GMT until further notice, as well as two-day school closure.
The unrest in Burkina Faso follows successful military coups in Mali and Guinea in the last 18 months, with the army deposing President Alpha Conde in Guinea in September.
Last year, the military took power in Chad after President Idriss Deby died on the battlefield.
Despite being a gold producer, Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
Islamist extremists have taken control of large swaths of the country and forced inhabitants in some regions to follow their draconian interpretation of Islamic law, while the military’s efforts to crush the insurgency have depleted precious national resources.
Faced with street protests, Kabore promised in November to put an end to “dysfunction” in the army, saying an investigation into the Inata attack would be followed by disciplinary penalties, and that he would initiate an anti-corruption campaign.
Late last year, some of the rage in Burkina Faso was directed at erstwhile colonial ruler France, which has sent hundreds of troops in West Africa’s Sahel area to confront jihadists.
