The President of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré on Sunday declared a national mourning of 48 hours after an attack by suspected jihadists in the north of the country which left 41 dead Thursday, civilians and army auxiliaries.
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“The search mission on the ambush zone of armed terrorist groups against a column of Volunteer of Defense for the Fatherland (VDP) and civilians on Thursday, December 23 (…) established a toll of 41 bodies.», Explains a press release from government spokesperson Alkassoum Maïga, published on Saturday evening.
“The President of Faso decrees a national mourning of 48 hours», Adds the text. Among the victims is Ladji Yoro, considered a leader of the VDP, the statement said. In its fight against jihadist groups, the Burkinabè army, weak and ill-equipped, relies on these “VDP», Civilian auxiliaries trained in two weeks, and who are paying a heavy price for the anti-jihadist fight.
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The Burkinabe president paid tribute to Ladji Yoro on Friday. “This intrepid Volunteer for the Defense of the Fatherland must be the model of our determined commitment to fight the enemy.“, Tweeted the head of state. No report on the attack was then provided by the executive. “Identification of victims is still ongoing“, Indicates the statement of the government which”firmly condemns this barbarity“.
According to several Burkinabè media, an ambush of suspected jihadists targeted Thursday, December 23 a convoy of traders escorted by VDP, about twenty km from Ouahigouya, in the north of the country. This attack is the deadliest since that of Inata (north), in mid-November, where 57 people including 53 gendarmes were killed, arousing the exasperation of the population and pushing the Burkinabè president to reshuffle the government a few weeks later.
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Like its Malian and Nigerien neighbors, Burkina Faso has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of violence attributed to jihadist armed groups, affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have left at least 2,000 dead and 1.4 million displaced. . Attacks targeting civilians and soldiers are increasingly frequent, the vast majority in the north and east of the country.
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