Burkina Faso army attacks coup guards in Ouagadougou
Troops loyal to the Burkina Faso government have attacked the barracks of the presidential guard which staged a coup earlier this month.
A BBC correspondent in the capital Ouagadougo says shots and explosions have been heard and smoke has been seen rising from the area near the barracks.
The army accuses the guard of failing to lay down their arms after the coup.
Coup leader Gen Gilbert Diendere has called on the presidential guard to surrender "to avoid a bloodbath".
Gen Diendere's whereabouts are still unknown.
Amid the standoff at the barracks, the city's international airport has been shut and local residents have been told to stay indoors..
The presidential guards ceded power last Wednesday after the army opposed the coup they staged a week earlier.
The reinstated government says it has dissolved their elite unit, which is loyal to former president Blaise Compaore and Gen Diendere.
Mr Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising last year after attempting to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule.
Djibril Bassole, who served as Mr Compaore's foreign minister, has been detained over allegations that he supported the coup, security sources said.
He has denied the allegation.
AFP
BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says the army has been threatening to launch an assault to disarm the presidential guards, who are in their barracks near the presidential palace.
Army chief of staff Gen Pingrenoma Zagre has ordered people not to venture into the neighbourhood, he says.
Troops equipped with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were also stationed at several intersections, the AFP news agency reports from Ouagadougou.
Speaking to the BBC, Gen Diendere called on his men to lay down their weapons but said that some members of the presidential guard unit were now acting on their own.
About 10 people were killed in protests which followed the coup.
Gen Diendere is Mr Compaore's former chief of staff, but denies that he had any contact with him before he staged the coup.
He gave power back to the government following a deal brokered by regional leaders, and said the coup was a "mistake".
The deal requires the presidential guards to disarm, but few of them have do so, our correspondent says.
The presidential guards, who number between 1,000 and 3,000, are said to be the most well-trained troops in the West African state.
Burkina Faso's seven-day coup
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