On Saturday, gunfire shook the Burkinabe city of Ouagadougou.
In the nation’s second coup in eight months, the military overthrew President Paul-Henri Damiba just 24 hours prior to this.
After Capt. Ibrahim Traore declared on state television on Friday evening that he had overthrown Damiba, gunfire erupted as military helicopters circled the presidential palace and a convoy of special soldiers stormed into central Ouagadougou.
Later, Traore charged the deposed leader with mounting a defence after being removed from power.
“They led a counter-offensive this morning. Some of the special forces were sent and also the air base has been manipulated,” he told radio station Omega on Saturday.
The whereabouts of the president remain unknown.
The landlocked West African nation has become the epicentre of violence carried out by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The violence that began in neighbouring Mali in 2012 has spread to other countries south of the Sahara Desert.
The US State Department and the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had denounced the overthrow of the government.
