The tension goes up a notch and the situation is confused in Burkina Faso.
Shots were heard late Sunday afternoon near the presidential residence of Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, in Ouagadougou, the capital, in a country plagued by jihadist violence and where mutinies took place in several barracks.
A helicopter, with all lights off, also flew over the Patte d'Oie district where the residence is located, when the shooting took place which, at first heavy, became sporadic.
Intense gunfire was also heard by residents almost at the same time as in the Sangoulé Lamizana and Baba Sy military camps.
RFI radio claims that the president was arrested overnight.
He would be detained in a military camp.
The Reuters agency specifies that it would be in the hands of mutineers.
A security source even mentions an ongoing coup.
A statement is expected to be made in the coming hours.
Hooded soldiers took up position in front of national television, reports AFP.
Curfew
Soldiers mutinied on Sunday in several barracks across the country, including those of Sangoulé Lamizana and Baba Sy.
They are demanding the departure of the army chiefs and "appropriate means" for the fight against the jihadists.
Mutinies have also taken place at the Ouagadougou air base, as well as in Kaya and Ouahigouya, in northern Burkina where the majority of Islamist attacks are concentrated.
The government reacted by acknowledging these shots in several barracks, however denying "a takeover by the army".
Sunday evening, President Kaboré decreed "until further notice" a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
"We want means adapted to the" anti-jihadist "struggle and substantial staff", as well as the "replacement" of the highest ranking officers of the national army, indicates in an audio recording a soldier from the Sangoulé Lamizana barracks, under covered with anonymity.
He also wished "better care for the wounded" during the attacks and the fighting with the jihadists, as well as "the families of the deceased".
This soldier did not demand the departure of the president, accused by a large part of the population, exasperated by the violence, of being "incapable" of countering the jihadist groups.
In power since 2015, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was re-elected in 2020 on the promise to make it his priority.
Protests for months
Several angry demonstrations have been taking place for months in the country. They are often interdicted and dispersed by riot police. The mutineers' claims were confirmed by other military sources and discussions took place between representatives and the minister of defence. All day Sunday, demonstrators supported the mutineers and set up makeshift roadblocks in several avenues in the capital, before being dispersed by the police.
The Sangoulé Lamizana camp is home to the Armed Forces Prison and Correctional Center (Maca) where General Gilbert Diendéré, close to former President Blaise Compaoré who was overthrown in 2014 and who has since lived in Côte d'Ivoire, is detained. General Diendéré was sentenced to 20 years in prison for an attempted putsch in 2015 against President Kaboré. He is currently on trial for his alleged role in the assassination of former President Thomas Sankara, a pan-African icon, in 1987.
Like neighboring Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso is caught in a spiral of violence attributed to armed jihadist groups, affiliated with the Islamist terrorist nebula Al-Qaeda and the ultra-radical jihadist group of the Islamic State.
Attacks targeting civilians and soldiers are increasingly frequent and mostly concentrated in the north and east of the country.
Islamist violence has killed more than 2,000 people in nearly seven years and forced 1.5 million people to flee.