Burkina Faso mutiny spreads to fourth city: Residents

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Burkina Faso soldiers went on the rampage in the Northern city of Kaya, residents said on Monday, making it the fourth to be hit by a spreading mutiny against veteran ruler Blaise Compaore.

Soldiers and the police poured into the streets of Kaya late on Sunday and shot into the air until 6.00 am on Monday, they said. It was the first time police had taken part in the revolt that erupted late on Thursday.

The mutinous forces also torched the home of a chief of an Army regiment and ransacked that of the regional military chief, they told AFP by telephone.

The uprising erupted in the capital Ouagadougou and spread to the cities of Po and Tenkodogo.

Ouagadougou, which had been shutdown since on Thursday because of the unrest, was returning to normal on Monday, an AFP journalist said, with banks and public offices opening.

Po, in the South, and Eastern Tenkodogo were also calm after soldiers opened fire in the streets and looted shops at the weekend, residents said.

To try to control the situation, Compaore dissolved his government and on Friday named a new head of the Armed forces.

His government warned on Sunday that mutinous soldiers will face "the full force of the law".

Compaore, a former Army captain, staged a 1983 coup from Po which brought his friend and comrade in arms Thomas Sankara to power.

He then took control in a 1987 military coup and has won all elections since.

The violence in the capital had seen at least 45 people admitted to hospital with injuries with a number of rapes also reported, a hospital source told AFP on Saturday.