The troubles were part of wider unrest that has hit the usually placid cotton- and gold-producing nation since President Blaise Compaore extended his 24-year rule with a landslide November poll win which rivals said was not credible.
Army chief of staff General Nabere Honore Traore told a news conference the soldiers’ contracts had been annulled for inciting public disorder and failing to respect military duties. He said 217 of them faced legal action.
Rising food prices and frustration at the slow pace of economic reform during Compaore’s rule have prompted street protests by students and others, while soldiers including Compaore’s own presidential guard have complained about pay.
Witnesses in the capital Ouagadougou and other towns said soldiers have looted shops and hijacked vehicles, sparking protests from shopkeepers angry at the government’s failure to rein the mutinous soldiers in.
Analysts say the protests add up to one of the most serious challenges to Compaore’s rule but note that there has been now coherent national movement along the lines of the “Arab Spring” uprisings that ousted