Ten civilian auxiliaries of the army and four members of the armed forces were killed the day before Wednesday near Kaya, in the north of Burkina Faso, an area visited by the transitional president, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, sources close to the local authorities and the local authorities told AFP yesterday. security forces.

“Early on Wednesday morning, terrorist groups attacked a joint unit of the military and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) in Zorkum,” a community about ten kilometers from Kaya (north), one of the sources said.

“In the ranks of the friendly forces, four soldiers and about ten volunteer casualties were counted. In the ranks of the enemy, about twenty terrorists were neutralized” (s.s.: killed), explained this source, who is close to the security forces.

Confirming the attack, a second source close to the security forces spoke of “casualties” in the ranks of the armed forces and auxiliaries, without giving any specific account.

The unit targeted in Zorkum was tasked with guaranteeing the security of work to repair water facilities in the city of Kaya, which are often sabotaged by gunmen, explained a local official, who also confirmed the attack.

Captain Traore, who arrived on Wednesday morning in Kaya for 48 hours, went to the site of the attack “a few hours later” and praised “the bravery” of the men “who managed to repel the attack and inflict huge losses” on the alleged jihadists, a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

“Yesterday morning as we arrived (in Kaya), the enemy decided to welcome us in a rather spectacular way. Perhaps he thought that this would hurt our morale, discourage us. But no! He encouraged us to go to him, to battle,” said the head of the military regime yesterday.

“Today they may be attacking us, but they are not getting away unscathed. And in the near future, we will do everything so that they can no longer attack us,” he added.

Captain Traore, who seized power in a military coup six months ago, reaffirmed in February his “determination” to crack down on groups that pledge allegiance to either Islamic State or al-Qaeda, amid an escalation in their attacks.

Eleven civilians, including five army auxiliaries, were killed on Sunday and Monday in attacks attributed to jihadists in the central-eastern and eastern parts of the country, according to sources close to the local government and security forces.

Action by organizations that pledge allegiance to either the Islamic State or al-Qaeda has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people since 2015, according to non-governmental organizations, while displacing another two million civilians.