Please register to access this content.
To continue viewing the content you love, please sign in or create a new account
Dismiss
This content is for our paying subscribers only

World Africa

At least 14 killed in two attacks in Burkina Faso

African country has been struggling with a militant attacks since 2015



A man crosses through burning barricades in the central avenues in Ouagadougou where group of young demonstrators supporting the role of the army protested against President Marc Christian Kabore on January 23, 2022.
Image Credit: AFP

Ouagadougou: At least 14 people died in two separate attacks by militant groups in Burkina Faso's north, including eight civilian army auxiliaries, security and local sources said Tuesday.

One of the world's poorest countries, Burkina has been struggling with a militants' offensive since 2015.

Thousands of civilians and members of the security forces have died and around two million people have been displaced.

Disgruntled army officers have carried out two coups this year in a show of anger at failures to roll back the insurgency.

"Armed individuals attacked the village of Safi early Monday," a security source told AFP, with the auxiliary VDP militia losing eight people.

Advertisement

The attack was confirmed by a local source. Six civilians were separately killed near Markoye, the security source added.

"They (militants) kidnapped three young people on the Salmossi-Markoye road, who were then found dead in the bush on (Monday)", a relative of one of the victims told AFP.

"They robbed several people... and carried away vehicles."

The deterioration in the country's security situation has been used to justify the two coups this year.

The first, in January, saw a military junta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrow elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

Advertisement

The second, in September, saw Captain Ibrahim Traore come to power as he and his supporters ousted Damiba.

Traore has been appointed transitional president with the declared aim of taking pack huge swathes of territory held by militants.

Advertisement