Security personnel take cover as smoke billows from The Institute Francais in Ouagadougou on March 2, 2018, as the capital of Burkina Faso came under multiple attacks targeting the French embassy, the French cultural centre and the country’s military headquarters. at least 28 deaths.
Ahmed OUOBA / AFP

One person was shot dead after three people attempted to storm a roadblock near the Burkinabe presidential compound Sunday, a government source told AFP.

Two of the trio managed to flee the scene but the third was arrested and gunned down after attempting to seize the weapon of a guard, the source said.

The incident in the early hours came two days after eight soldiers were killed in deadly twin attacks on the French embassy and the Burkinabe military HQ in the capital Ouagadougou.

The Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a jihadist group allied to al-Qaeda, Saturday claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks in a message cited by Mauritania’s Al-Akhbar news agency.

GSIM, which has claimed responsibility for previous assaults in the troubled Sahel region, said the attacks were a response to the deaths of some of its leaders in a French army raid in northern Mali last month.

AFP