Ouagadougou – Fifteen people, including nine soldiers, died on Sunday in two separate attacks on military units in northern Burkina Faso, the country’s army said.
“Terrorist attacks” killed nine people in Gaskinde and six in nearby Pobe Mengao near the Malian border on Sunday morning as assailants targeted military bases and civilians, the army said in a statement.
Five soldiers and four civilians died in Gaskinde, while the Pobe Mengao attack left four soldiers and two civilian auxiliaries dead. Around 30 people were injured, the statement added.
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“The situation in these two areas is now under control,” the army said.
Security and local sources had earlier told AFP of around 10 deaths in Gaskinde and significant material damage.
Jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have regularly carried out attacks in northern and eastern Burkina Faso since 2015, killing more than 2 000 people and displacing almost two million.
Unrest linked to jihadist groups also plagues Burkina Faso’s West African neighbours Mali and Niger.
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Also on Sunday, a jihadist group claimed three separate attacks on army bases in central Mali that killed six and injured 20.
The latest attack in Burkina Faso comes after an incident where 12 soldiers and four civilian auxiliaries were killed on April 8.
Anger at the government’s perceived mishandling of the insurgency was used by the army as a justification for a military coup that ousted former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore in January.
New leader Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has said Burkina Faso’s security situation is his priority, but attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 100 people.
The new head of state earlier this month announced the creation of local committees made up of religious leaders and traditional chiefs to initiate dialogue with jihadist groups in a bid to stem the violence.
But the state does not negotiate directly with the fighters and continues its military operations against them.
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Source: AFP
Image: Twitter /@1InfoAfrica
