Dozens dead or injured in attacks on Burkina military HQ, French embassy

OUAGADOUGOU: Armed men attacked the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country's military headquarters on Friday before being repelled in a battle that left dozens of dead or injured.

Local security sources put a still-incomplete death toll at about 15 while other sources reached by AFP from Paris sketched an even bloodier outcome, with at least 28 people killed in the second assault alone.

The coordinated operation underscored the fragility of the Sahel nation, one of a string of African states struggling with a bloody militant insurgency.

Heavy gunfire broke out mid-morning in the centre of the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou.

Witnesses said five armed men got out of a car and opened fire on passersby before heading towards the French embassy. The car was later seen ablaze.

At the same time, an explosion occurred near the headquarters of the Burkinabe armed forces and the French cultural centre, which are located about a kilometre (half a mile) from the site of the first attack, other witnesses said.

Burkinabe security sources said around 15 people were killed, while the army's medical chief, Colonel Amado Kafando, said 75 others had been injured.

It was unclear whether these figures applied to one or to both attacks, and whether they included the assailants.

Earlier, the government had announced that six assailants had been killed -- four in the embassy attack and two in the military attack -- while state TV said seven members of the security forces had also died.

Three security sources -- two in France and one in West Africa, told AFP that at least 28 people were killed in the attack on the military HQ alone.