At least 32 defence volunteers and 10 soldiers have died in suspected jihadist attacks in insurgency‑hit northern Burkina Faso, officials said on Sunday. A detachment of soldiers and civilian volunteers was targeted by unidentified armed men at about 4:00 p.m. on Saturday near Aorema village, according to a statement from the Ouahigouya governorate. The army reported a death toll of 40 — eight soldiers and 32 defence volunteers — and said “at least 50 terrorists” were neutralised in the counter‑attack, including several killed in air strikes.
On Sunday the same source reported “another attack targeting the military detachment of Kongoussi (Bam province, North Central region)”, in which two soldiers were killed and about 20 terrorists were neutralised. The northern region’s governorate said that 33 people wounded in the first attack were in stable condition and were being treated in the regional capital.
A security source contacted by AFP said the detachment targeted on Saturday was responsible for “the security of the Ouahigouya airfield that was targeted.” A local resident confirmed that heavy fighting lasted “almost two hours” on Saturday night and added that “several air strikes targeted positions of suspected jihadists” on Friday.
Burkina Faso’s military junta declared a “general mobilisation” on Thursday, granting the state “all necessary means” to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on jihadists affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Details of the plan were not disclosed, but a security source told AFP it would include a state of emergency for the affected territories. Authorities also issued an advisory giving the president the right to requisition people, goods and services and to restrict certain civil liberties.
On Tuesday, the defence minister called on current and retired military personnel to hand in unused uniforms to help outfit army soldiers. Last week, 44 civilians were reported killed by “armed terrorist groups” in two villages in the northeast, near the Niger border – one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power last September. In February, 51 soldiers were killed at Deou in the far north, prompting the government to announce a plan that month to recruit 5,000 more soldiers to fight the insurgency that has plagued one of the world’s poorest countries since 2015.
Traoré, Burkina’s transitional president, has set a goal of recapturing the 40 percent of the country’s territory currently controlled by jihadists. The violence has left more than 10,000 people dead, according to non‑governmental aid groups, and has displaced two million people from their homes.
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