At least 18 people have been killed in two separate attacks in Burkina Faso, sources briefed on the incidents told AFP on Sunday as violence continues to rage in the Sahel nation. The country has been battling a jihadist insurgency that spilled over from neighboring Mali in 2015, resulting in thousands of civilian, troop and police deaths and forcing more than two million people to flee their homes.
“On Saturday afternoon, armed men attacked Bani,” a resident of the town about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Dori in the Sahel region said. “We deplore 12 dead according to the first toll,” added another witness. A security source confirmed the attack but did not provide a death toll. Also on Saturday, six soldiers were killed in the east when an improvised explosive device detonated, according to two security sources. “Members of the military detachment from Diapaga were on a patrol mission when their vehicle hit a mine on the Diapaga‑Partiaga road,” one source explained.
Attacks blamed on suspected jihadists are on the rise in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country at the heart of West Africa’s Sahel and one of the world’s most volatile and impoverished states. Around 40 percent of its territory lies outside government control. Anger within the military over the mounting death toll sparked two coups in 2022, the most recent in September when 34‑year‑old Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power. He has upheld the previous junta’s pledge to hold elections for a civilian government by 2024.
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