Ouagadougou – At least two people were killed and several more injured when a bus drove over a landmine in northern Burkina Faso on Sunday, local sources said.
The public transport bus was completely destroyed when it hit the improvised explosive device a few km (miles) from the town of Taparko, a witness said.
At least “two of the passengers of the bus were killed”, a local official told AFP, with another ten people injured.
Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.
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More than 2 000 people have died, according to an AFP toll.
The flashpoint “tri-border” area in the north is frequently targeted by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) with deadly attacks against civilians and soldiers.
Attacks with homemade bombs have multiplied since 2018, costing the lives of around 300 people, civilians and military.
At least 11 people were killed in an attack on a gold mine in northern Burkina Faso on Saturday, two days after a similar raid in the same area.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pexels
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