THE Organization of Support to Islam and Muslims (WIM), which pledges allegiance to Al Qaedatook responsibility for attack which was committed on June 11 and – according to her – resulted in the killing of “more than a hundred” soldiers in Mansila, in Burkina Faso, near the border with Niger, the SITE Intelligence Group, a center specialized in monitoring the activity of the jihadists on the internet.

According to UIM, militants of the organization attacked last Tuesday “a military position” in Mansila, “killed 107 soldiers and occupied the facility.”

Videos released online by the jihadists show fighting raging at a military base, dozens of weapons and ammunition falling into their hands and at least seven military prisoners.

If the account of this attack is verified, it will be one of the bloodiest actions in the Sahel state which, like neighboring countries Niger and Mali, is struggling to cope with the wave of attacks by jihadist groups that pledge allegiance to either the Islamic State or Al Qaeda.

A student union in Mansila reported that gunmen “stormed” an army base, “our houses, shops” and state institutions, speaking of “dead” and “missing”, among them “fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters us”, calling on the authorities to “restore peace”.

A spokesman for the military regime in Burkina Faso did not respond when Reuters tried to contact him for comment on the report. An AFP source in the security forces in the Sahel state was limited to confirming only that an attack had been carried out, without giving any account.

Thousands dead in the last 10 years

Jihadist action has claimed the lives of around 20,000 people and displaced more than two million others in Burkina Faso alone since 2015.

On Friday, the head of Burkina Faso’s military junta appeared on television donating blood in the capital Ouagadougou, after two days of uncertainty after a shell fell in the courtyard of the state television facility, very close to the presidency.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, in power after the September 2022 military coup, had not spoken publicly since the blow.

Yesterday the presidency posted a message on social networking sites wishing Muslims a happy Eid al-Adha, accompanied by a photo of Captain Traore praying.

The authorities in the African country often assert that they are scoring victories in the anti-jihadist campaign they are conducting, but attacks continue and part of the territory remains outside the control of the army.