Ivory Coast extradites 3 coup suspects to Burkina Faso

Residents burn tires along a street in Ouagadougou.

A Burkina Faso military official says Ivory Coast extradited three former members of an elite unit that staged a brief, failed coup last September.

Colonel Sita Sangare, a military prosecutor, said the suspects arrived in Ouagadougou on Saturday evening. They became the target of international arrest warrants after they fled to Ivory Coast when the coup failed and Burkina Faso's transitional government was restored.

The two countries' presidents have sought to ease tensions after Burkina Faso's military tribunal announced in January that an arrest warrant had been issued for Guillaume Soro, the head of Ivory Coast's parliament, for his alleged role in the September coup.

Ex-Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore also remains in Ivory Coast despite a warrant for his arrest over the 1987 death of his predecessor, Thomas Sankara.

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