The military in Burkina Faso announced, Friday evening, the overthrow of the head of the military council, as a result of what they described as the deteriorating security.
Ibrahim Traore, a captain in the Burkina Faso army, said in a statement read on national television on Friday that he had ousted military leader Paul Henry Damiba, dissolved the government and suspended the constitution.
State television also announced the closure of the borders until further notice.
Gunshots were heard at dawn today, Friday, in Ouagadougou, in the neighborhood that includes the presidential palace and the headquarters of the Military Council, which took power during a coup last January.
Witnesses said that heavy gunfire was heard from the main army camp and some residential areas in the Burkina Faso capital early Friday morning.
Correspondents said that several armed soldiers were seen on the main road leading to the presidential headquarters, some administrative buildings, and the national television, which stopped broadcasting, adding that several axes of roads in the capital were closed on Friday morning by soldiers.
Since the end of January 2022, a military council has taken power in Burkina Faso, which came to power during a coup.
The head of this council, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaugo Damiba, promised to make security his priority in this country, which has witnessed for years attacks by militants.