Burkina Faso detains 5 more soldiers accused in armoury raid

Ouagadougou — Burkina Faso’s army has said it has detained five members of a disbanded unit loyal to the country’s former president who are suspected of involvement in a raid on an armoury.
One member of the unit was killed in an exchange of gunfire 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 exacerbated security concerns one week after Islamic extremists killed 30 people when they attacked a cafe and hotel popular with foreigners in the city.
Captain Aziz Ouedroaogo, an army spokesman, said troops were looking for seven more soldiers in connection with the raid and stopped six of them Sunday evening near the border with Ghana.
Ouedroago said one of them opened fire on troops and was shot and killed by government soldiers.
Officials have not specified how many weapons were seized during the armoury 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 longtime president ousted in an October 2014 uprising.