(Adds deathtoll, minister paragraphs 1,7,8) OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's government said on Thursday it was postponing a regional economic summit due to take place in the capital this weekend, after gun battles between police officers and soldiers killed five people. The West African country said the summit organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) would be postponed indefinitely following the clashes this week. "In view of the altercation between soldiers and police officers in the city of Ouagadougou, we thought it was not the moment to receive these distinguished guests," Jean de Dieu Somda, minister delegate for regional co-operation, said. Soldiers armed with machineguns went on the rampage in Ouagadougou early on Wednesday after one of their colleagues, out of uniform, was shot by police officers during a routine search. The soldiers set fire to one of the city's main police stations, vandalised the police headquarters and released several detainees from one of its prisons before returning to their barracks. Police officers shot in the air to try to control the soldiers, sending frightened civilians running for cover. Around 10 people, civilians and soldiers, were admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds. Defence Minister Yero Boly told a news conference on Thursday three soldiers and two policemen had been killed in the fighting, with several more wounded on each side. "Preparations have been made for the men and the materials to return to the barracks and everyone will rejoin their unit so that military life can restart normally," the minister said, denying any political motivation behind the incidents. Rivalry between soldiers and police officers runs deep in Burkina Faso, with each seeing the other as an inferior force, but the hostility has rarely turned violent and the country has enjoyed relative stability compared to its turbulent neighbours.
