2023-06-27 23:23:55
A camp that houses hundreds of displaced people, in Djibo in Burkina Faso. May 26, 2022. SAM MEDNICK / AP
At least 31 soldiers and three army auxiliaries were killed on Monday June 26 in an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, the army announced on Tuesday, security sources having told Agence France-Presse that Another separate attack left dozens dead.
“A supply convoy escorted by military units, returning from Djibo”a city besieged for months by jihadists in the Sahel region (north), was Monday “the target of an ambush” in Namsiguia, in the Center-North region, according to a press release from the Burkinabe army.
“The particularly violent fighting caused significant losses, despite the vigorous response of the units”he adds, speaking of a ” temporary report “ of 31 soldiers and three Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, civilian army auxiliaries) killed, while a “ten elements are still wanted by the reinforcements” dispatched to the spot. According to the army, “more than forty terrorists have been neutralized”.
The army does not mention in its press release another attack committed on Monday in the same region, which, according to security sources at AFP, also made “dozens of dead”mostly VDPs.
Read also: In the Sahel, drug trafficking thrives thanks to armed groups
“Terrorist groups attacked the village of Noaka” in the Center-North region, “primarily targeting VDPs”according to one such source. “We lost dozens of men in Noaka and several are injured”said a local VDP official. “Several other fighters are still missing”according to him.
10,000 dead, 2 million displaced
According to a local resident, “It’s a massacre that took place in Noaka”estimating at ” thirty “ the number of VDPs killed during this attack and evoking “many injuries”. “The valiant fighters, supported by the army, also made it possible to inflict a heavy loss on the attackers”he added, also speaking of “several motorcycles and weapons recovered”.
Displaced women from Djibo, a city besieged by jihadists, find themselves in the capital Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, June 2, 2023. KILAYE BATIONO / AP
The local VDP official also said that another smaller attack took place on Monday in Gayeri, in the province of Komondjari (east), killing four army auxiliaries.
The populations of Tanwalbougou (east) had demonstrated the same day in the face of the resurgence of jihadist attacks, calling for a supply of their locality under blockade of armed groups for several weeks, according to residents.
Read also: Burkina Faso offers up to 275,000 euros for “actively wanted terrorists”
Burkina has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and which has spread beyond their borders.
The Head of State of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore, in the center, in Ougadougou, March 4, 2023. OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP
The violence over the past eight years has killed more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers, according to NGOs, and more than two million internally displaced persons. The country has been ruled since last September by a military junta headed by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power after a coup, the second in eight months.
#soldiers #volunteers #killed #attack