At least 18 people have been killed in two separate attacks in Burkina Faso, informed sources said AFP on Sunday, as violence continues to boil in the Sahel nation.
In 2015, a jihadist insurgency rushed into the country from neighboring Mali, killing thousands of civilians, troops, and police and forcing more than two million people to flee their homes.
“On Saturday afternoon, armed men attacked Bani,” a town in the Sahel region about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Dori, according to a local resident. “We deplore the initial count of 12 fatalities,” a second witness stated.
A security source confirmed the incident but did not report any casualties.
Also on Saturday, according to two security sources, an improvised explosive device detonated in the country’s east, killing six soldiers.
“Members of the Diapaga military detachment were on patrol” when their vehicle “hit a mine on the Diapaga-Partiaga road,” according to one of the sources.
In Burkina Faso, attacks attributed to suspected jihadists are on the rise.
Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in the heart of West Africa’s Sahel, is one of the world’s most unstable and destitute nations.
Approximately forty percent of the country is not under government control.
In September of 2022, 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in the most recent of two coups that were precipitated by the military’s ire over the rising death toll.
Additionally, bombings in central Nigeria have claimed 40 lives.
He stands by the previous junta’s vow to hold elections for a civilian administration by 2024.
»Attacks in Burkina Faso: at least 18 dead«