Seventeen soldiers and 36 pro-government militiamen were killed on Monday during clashes with armed groups in Kaya, the capital of the Centre-Nord region of Burkina Faso, on November 20, 2021. Illustrative image.
Seventeen soldiers and 36 members of the Burkina Faso army’s auxiliary forces were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in the Northern region, the military headquarters announced in a statement on Tuesday, September 5.
“Exactly fifty-three fighters, specifically seventeen soldiers and thirty-six VDP (Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, civilian auxiliaries of the army), lost their lives” on Monday, it said.
Several attackers “neutralized”
The targeted unit was deployed in Koumbri, in the Yatenga province, to “facilitate the resettlement” of populations “who have left the area for more than two years,” driven out by jihadists, it explained.
The military headquarters also reported “about thirty injured who have been evacuated and taken care of.” It stated that “counter-operations” had led to the “neutralization of several attackers” and the “destruction of their combat equipment,” and affirmed that “operations are still ongoing in the area.” “Everything is being done to neutralize the terrorist elements” who are “on the run,” it added.
This new attack was condemned on Tuesday evening by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Burkina Faso has been suspended following the coups in 2022. ECOWAS said in a statement that it learned “with shock” of the death of soldiers and VDP, “condemns the terrorist attacks, and expresses its solidarity with the Burkinabe people.”
Burkina Faso, which has experienced two military coups in 2022, has been caught in a spiral of jihadist violence since 2015, resulting in over 16,000 deaths – both civilians and military personnel – according to the ACLED NGO, and over two million displaced people.
Spiral of violence
Attacks attributed by the army to “terrorist armed groups” have multiplied in recent months in Burkina. On Friday, four civilian auxiliaries of the army and a police officer were killed in an attack in the Centre-Nord region. In August, five Burkinabe police officers and around twenty people were killed in two attacks in the Centre-East.
On June 26, 71 individuals – 31 soldiers and 40 civilian auxiliaries of the army – were killed in three attacks, with the two deadliest occurring in the Centre-Nord province.
At the beginning of September, the military headquarters stated that “various actions” carried out between August 7 and September 1 in the west of the country had led to the “neutralization of over 65 terrorists.”
Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the transitional president following a coup, lamented in July “increasingly recurrent attacks against civilians,” stating that the jihadists, who control about 40% of the territory, were showing “cowardice.” In power for nearly a year after a coup in September 2022 – the second in eight months – Ibrahim Traoré had justified his takeover by the escalation of violence by armed groups.
Since demanding the departure of French forces from its soil in January, Burkina Faso has been seeking new partners, particularly in defense. A Russian delegation, led by Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, held talks with the Burkinabe president last week on development and military cooperation issues.
Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs Olivia Rouamba had expressed on Monday her country’s desire to “strengthen bilateral cooperation” with Iran during a meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran.
With AFP