Since 2015, the African country has often been plunged into mourning due to increasingly frequent and deadly attacks by jihadists.
At least fourteen people, including eight army auxiliaries, were killed yesterday Monday in two separate attacks by jihadists in the northern part of Burkina Faso, sources close to the security forces and local residents told AFP on Tuesday.
“Armed men attacked in the early hours of Monday in the village of Safi, in the community of Boala, near Kaya” (central-north). “The volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP, paramilitaries), who were targeted, lost eight members,” said a source close to the security forces.
Several more “elements” of the paramilitaries were injured in this attack, the same source added.
A local VDP leader in Kaya confirmed the attack, speaking for his part of “7 dead, 10 injured and great material damage”.
“On the same day (…) near Markoge, Udalan province (northeast), gunmen killed six civilians and seized vehicles and other goods,” according to the source close to the security forces.
“The terrorists abducted three young people on the Salmosi-Marcoge (road) axis, who were later found dead in an area with low vegetation,” explained a relative of the victims.
“They robbed people who ran into them on the street and grabbed vehicles,” added the same source.
Since 2015, the African country has often been plunged into mourning due to increasingly frequent and deadly attacks by jihadists. The action of organizations that pledge allegiance to either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State has claimed the lives of thousands of people, while uprooting some two million residents over the past seven years.
Their attacks have multiplied in recent months, above all in the northern and eastern sectors of Burkina Faso.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré — who was sworn in on October 21 as interim president by the constitutional council, following the September 30 military coup that overthrew Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Santogo Dhamiba — has declared that the goal of the new military regime “is none other than recovery of the territories occupied by these hordes of terrorists.”
It was the second military coup in Burkina Faso in eight months, with the coup plotters citing the worsening security situation both times.
On January 24, military forces under Lt. Col. Dabiba seized power, ousting president-elect Roque Marc Christian Cabore, whom they accused of inaction and incompetence amid escalating jihadist activity.
On October 25, the new military regime announced that it had begun recruiting 50,000 VDPs, who “will strengthen the ranks of the army in the fight against terrorism.”
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
