According to a statement by the General Staff, it was a clearing operation carried out in retaliation for an attack committed by the terrorist group in the village of Kongojan, resulting in the death of four civilians.
Members of Burkina Faso’s armed forces have killed fifteen jihadists, including the leader of a local armed group, in retaliation for an attack that killed four civilians, the general staff said on Friday.
On the evening of Monday 17 October, the army and VDP (s.s. Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie, “Volunteers for the defense of the homeland”, paramilitary auxiliaries of the armed forces) carried out a “clearance operation” in the community of Mandogara following armed action terrorist group in Kongojan village resulting in the death of four civilians,” the staff said in the press release it released.
The operation “allowed fifteen terrorists, including their leader, to be neutralized” and a “hostage to be freed,” the text added.
The identity of the hostage was not released.
Two members of the government forces were injured in the operation, during which four motorcycles, Kalashnikov rifles, magazines and radio communication systems were seized, the press release said.
Since 2015, like its neighboring countries (Niger, Mali), Burkina Faso, especially its northern and eastern parts, has been plunged into crisis due to non-stop attacks by armed jihadist organizations that pledge allegiance to either Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State . Thousands of people have been killed and an estimated two million others have been displaced.
More than 40% of the territory is outside the control of the state, according to official data.
Last Saturday, three soldiers and eight civilians, auxiliaries of the armed forces, were killed in an attack by alleged jihadists in the northern sector of Burkina Faso.
This attack was carried out two weeks after the September 30 military coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, which overthrew Lt. Col. Paul Henri Santogo Damiba.
It was the second military coup in Burkina Faso in eight months, with coup plotters both citing a worsening security situation in the African country, which has been grappling with deadly jihadist violence for the past seven years.
Captain Traore, who was named the transitional president of the country, assures that the goal of his regime “is nothing but the recovery of the territories occupied by the hordes of terrorists”.
RES-EMP
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