Dozens of defense forces killed in attack in Burkina Faso: Governor

The provisional death toll was 34 volunteers and six soldiers in an attack carried out by unidentified men, authorities say.

Unidentified assailants killed 40 people and wounded 33 others in an attack on the army and volunteer defense forces in northern Burkina Faso, the government said in a statement.

A detachment of six soldiers and 34 civilian volunteers “came under attack by unidentified armed men on Saturday… around 4 pm” near the village of Aorema, the Ouahigouya governorate said in a statement on Sunday.

The region is not far from the border with Mali, an area overrun by fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) who have carried out repeated attacks for years.

The provisional death toll was 34 auxiliaries of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) and six soldiers, according to the statement, adding that 33 more people were injured and in “stable condition” at the capital’s university hospital. regional Ouahigouya.

A security source confirmed the death toll to the AFP news agency, saying “several dozen terrorists had been neutralized” – that is, killed – during a “response” launched after the attack.

Another security source said the detachment that was attacked was deployed to maintain security at the Ouahigouya airfield.

‘General mobilization’

Burkina Faso’s military government had declared a “general mobilization” on Thursday to give the state “all necessary means” to combat a series of bloody attacks blamed on fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda and the ISIL group.

Last week, 44 civilians were killed by “armed terrorist groups” in two villages in the northeast, near the border with Niger.

It was one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power last September, after 51 soldiers were killed in February in Deou, in the far north.

The government had already announced a plan by September 2022 to recruit 5,000 more troops for the fighting that has gripped one of the world’s poorest countries since 2015.

The violence has killed more than 10,000 people, according to non-governmental aid groups, and displaced two million people from their homes.