Burkina Faso's transitional government, set up after the military takeover in September 2022, denounced an attempted coup d'état that took place in the country on Tuesday.

"The transitional government reports that a proven coup attempt was thwarted on September 26, 2023 by the intelligence and security services," said the executive's spokesman, Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo, in a statement released on Wednesday evening.

"At the moment, agents and other actors allegedly involved in this destabilization attempt have been arrested and others are being sought," he added.

According to the spokesman, quoted by Lusa, this type of action represents an "impediment" to the people of Burkina Faso achieving their "sovereignty and their total liberation from the terrorist hordes that are trying to enslave them", in a reference to the 'jihadist' violence that is plaguing the country and the Sahel region.

The statement also warned the population against rumors spread on social media about a possible riot and assured that "ongoing investigations will reveal the instigators" of the coup attempt.

In connection with this attempt, the military prosecutor's office in Ouagadougou, the country's capital, confirmed that four soldiers had been arrested and two were still missing.

The authorities revealed this information a day after banning the distribution of the French magazine Jeune Afrique in the country, due to the publication of an article claiming that tensions and discontent are growing in the army.

Burkina Faso suffered two coups d'état last year: one on January 24 led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and another on September 30 led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the current head of state.

In recent years, coups d'état have multiplied in western and central Africa, most recently in Niger on July 26 and Gabon on August 30.