Burkina Faso junta says it foiled coup attempt

Burkina Faso's security and intelligence services foiled a coup attempt on Tuesday, according to the country's military government.

It alleged that officers and others had planned to destabilise the country and throw it into chaos.

It has been just less than a year since the interim President Capt Ibrahim Traoré seized power.

That was the country's second coup of 2022 as it grapples with an Islamist insurgency.

In a statement read out on television, the authorities said some arrests had been made, without giving specific details.

There have been recent reports of discontent within the military.

On Tuesday, rumours of a brewing mutiny led hundreds of people to take to the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, in support of the junta.

On the same day, the authorities suspended the French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique, accusing it of publishing articles discrediting the armed forces.