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STORY: The army Captain of Burkina Faso - Ibrahim Traore - ousted military leader Paul-Henri Damiba, saying in a statement read by an officer on national television Friday evening that the government had been dissolved.

“Unfortunately, our common ideal was betrayed by our leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in whom we had placed all our trust. Indeed, the deterioration of the security situation which justified our action has been relegated to the background in favor of unfortunate political adventures. Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once peaceful areas have come under the control of terrorist armed groups. Our valiant people have suffered enough and are still suffering."

The coup in the West African country was the second in eight months.

The sound of gunfire was heard in the capital hours earlier, while demonstrators waving Burkina Faso and Russian flags demanded an end to Damiba’s rule.

Traore said a group of officers who helped Damiba seize power in January, had decided to remove their leader due to his inability to deal with a worsening Islamist insurgency.

Damiba had ousted the former President in January, in part for the same reason.

Traore said on Friday that the constitution has been suspended… the transitional charter has been dissolved… borders are closed indefinitely and all political and civil society activities are suspended.