About 40 army auxiliaries and civilians were killed on Saturday in three attacks carried out by suspected jihadists in the north and east of Burkina Faso, AFP learned on Monday (May 16) from security and local sources. .
The deadliest attack targeted the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, civilian army auxiliaries) in the commune of Guessel in the Sahel region (north), killing “about twenty people, including eight VDPs”according to one of their managers.
He added that on the same day, five other auxiliaries and a civilian were killed in Markoye, in the same region, which was confirmed by a security source, speaking of a “series of attacks which mainly targeted the Volunteers”. “Steps have been taken to [envoyer] reinforcements in the area and the protection of hard-hit populations”she said.
In the province of Kompienga (south-east) near the borders of Togo and Benin, “a convoy of civilians escorted by army auxiliaries was targeted by an attack in Namouyouri”said another security source in the region, specifying that a “fifteen civilians were killed”.
A resident of the province said that in addition to civilians, “three auxiliaries” were also killed in this attack. He called out for help “for the care of a dozen injured people”.
In the night from Saturday to Sunday, another simultaneous attack against the gendarmerie and police stations in Faramana (west), near the Malian border, also injured two security forces, according to a security source.
Dialogue
Burkina Faso has been the target of jihadist attacks since 2015, perpetrated by armed movements, some of which are affiliated with Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and which have left more than 2,000 dead and 1.8 million displaced.
While the north and east of the country concentrate the majority of these attacks, certain regions in the west are also affected by violence, on a less regular basis.
The country’s new strongman, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew elected President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré on January 24, accused of being ineffective in the face of this violence, assured that he wanted to make the security issue his ” priority “.
After a relative lull in the weeks following his takeover, Mr. Damiba’s military regime is facing an upsurge in suspected jihadist attacks that have killed more than a hundred civilians and soldiers.
A week ago, the Burkinabe army announced in a press release that it had “neutralized” at least fifty “terrorists” responding to an ambush in the northwest and during an operation in the southwest.
In early April, the head of state announced the creation of local dialogue committees with local jihadist groups to try to stem the violence.
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