Agence France-Presse:
Six civilians, including four army aides, were killed Wednesday in an attack by suspected terrorist in northern Burkina Faso.
after which “about thirty terrorists were neutralized,” security sources told AFP on Friday.
“More than 100 terrorists attacked, on Wednesday, the village of Kosuka in Yatenga province (north), killing six people, including four volunteers to defend the homeland,” a security source told AFP.
He added that “planes participated in tracking down the attackers and allowed the elimination of about thirty terrorists while they were fleeing.”
A local official for the volunteers confirmed that six people had been killed and “losses” among the attackers, adding that “the ground forces then recovered important logistical means and weapons in the area.”
On Thursday, a “large terrorist base” was dismantled and “many terrorists” were neutralized in Mangodara, near the border with Ivory Coast, according to the Burkina Faso army.
In a video clip broadcast on national television showing raids carried out by drones, the army confirmed that it had neutralized “many terrorists” who had set up a checkpoint in Tabarko, in the north central region.
Since it recently acquired an air force, the army has been broadcasting videos of strikes on suspected jihadist groups, stressing that it is working to restore and protect all lands.
Since 2015, the country, which witnessed two military coups in 2022, has been witnessing a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger years ago and spread beyond their borders.
Violence has killed more than 10,000 people over the past seven years, both civilians and military personnel, according to non-governmental organizations, and has led to the displacement of two million people.
After seizing power, Captain Brahim Traoré set a goal of “taking back” about 40 percent of Burkina Faso’s territory controlled by terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
