Militant Attacks Claim Dozens of Lives in Northeastern Burkina Faso

Militant Attacks Claim Dozens of Lives in Northeastern Burkina Faso
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Two militant attacks in northeastern Burkina Faso earlier this week resulted in “several dozens” of deaths among soldiers and civilians, Arab News reported.

On Monday, a “major” attack targeted a military unit in the village of Dargo. A regional security source reported “several dozens of deaths on each side” from this assault by “armed terrorist groups.” Separately, militants ambushed a supply convoy traveling between the towns of Dori and Gorom-Gorom on the same day. This ambush killed “several soldiers, along with civilians, notably truck drivers transporting supplies,” a security source stated. A manager of a road haulage company confirmed the convoy attack, adding that “some 20 drivers and their apprentices were killed.”

The attack on the Dargo military base was claimed on Tuesday by the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militant group also active in Mali and Niger. JNIM stated it had killed 40 Burkinabe soldiers. The United Nations recognizes JNIM as the most influential militant threat in the Sahel region.

Wamaps, a group of West African journalists specializing in Sahel security, described the Dargo base attack as one of the deadliest against Burkina Faso’s military in recent weeks, citing local sources who reported around 50 soldiers killed. Wamaps also indicated that “nearly 200 terrorists” from the Daesh group in the Sahel were believed to have participated in the convoy attack, where “some 15 escort soldiers were killed and more than 10 drivers executed.” Burkina Faso has faced attacks from both JNIM and the Daesh group since 2015.