Burkina Faso’s army has detained five people in connection with a raid on an armory.
The army said it has detained five members of the disbanded unit loyal to the country’s former president, who are suspected of taking part in the raid on Friday.
One member of the unit was killed in an exchange of fire near the border with Ghana, an army spokesperson said on Sunday.
Authorities already had 10 soldiers and one civilian in custody over their suspected roles in Friday’s pre-dawn raid on the weapons warehouse outside Ouagadougou, which intensified security concerns one week after Islamic extremists killed 30 people when they attacked a café and a hotel popular with foreigners in the capital. Captain Aziz Ouedroaogo, an army spokesman, said the troops were looking for seven more soldiers in connection with the raid and stopped six of them on Sunday evening near the country’s border with Ghana.
Ouedroaogo said one of them opened fire on the troops and was gunned down by the government soldiers.
Officials have not specified how many weapons were seized during the armory raid, though they said some Kalashnikov rifles and anti-tank rocket launchers remain unaccounted for.
The arrested soldiers all come from the former presidential guard, which is loyal to former Blaise Compaore, the long-time president ousted in an October 2014 uprising.
