In two attacks carried out by alleged jihadists in the northern and eastern parts of Burkina Faso.
At least twelve civilians and six soldiers were killed yesterday Saturday in two attacks carried out by alleged jihadists in the northern and eastern parts of Burkina Faso, local sources and sources close to the security forces told AFP yesterday.
“On Saturday afternoon, gunmen attacked Bani”, a community about 40 kilometers from Dori, in the Sahel region (north), said a resident, adding that the “initial casualty count” was at least “twelve dead”, while another spoke of “thirteen dead.”
A source close to the security forces confirmed the attack, speaking of a “heavy toll of casualties”, without giving a number.
The first resident spoke of an attack by gunmen who “targeted the police station, the town hall and a school”. Residences and an Islamic mosque were “hit by the attackers’ fire before the defense and security forces retaliated,” he added.
The second stated that the perpetrators of the attack “moved on motorcycles” and carried out raids “against several targets”. The death toll “is in danger of becoming heavier, as we have missing and injured people,” he added.
The source in the security forces confirmed that there are “missing persons”, adding that “investigations are ongoing”. Several of the gunmen were “neutralized” (i.e. killed) “when they returned fire and in the chase that followed”, he said.
40% of the territory
On the same day, in the Eastern region, six soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device detonated, according to two sources close to the security forces.
“Elements of the Diapaga military detachment were on patrol” when their vehicle was hit “by a mine on the Diapaga-Partiaga axis,” one of the sources said.
Attacks attributed to jihadists continue to multiply in Burkina Faso.
Last week at least 45 people, civilians and military, were killed in attacks or executed after kidnappings.
Last Monday, ten gendarmes and two VDPs (Voluntaires pour la défense de la patrie, “volunteers for the defense of the homeland”, paramilitary auxiliaries of the army), based in Falagudo, in the Sahel region, were killed in “terrorist attack,” according to the military.
On the same day, fifteen people were found murdered in the southwestern part of the country, near the border with Ivory Coast, after they were kidnapped the day before by alleged jihadists.
Burkina Faso, theater of two military coups in 2022, has been faced since 2015 with the escalating violence of the jihadists who appeared in Mali a few years earlier and expanded beyond its borders.
Attacks by organizations that pledge allegiance to either Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State have claimed the lives of thousands of people and uprooted around two million others. These organizations control more than 40% of Burkina Faso’s territory, according to official figures.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré — sworn in on October 21, 2022 as interim president, following the September 30 military coup that overthrew Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Santiago Dhamiba — has said that the main goal of the new military regime “is nothing but the recovery of the territories which have been taken over by hordes of terrorists”.
RES-EMP
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