At least four Burkinabé soldiers were killed and four are missing on Monday during a jihadist attack in Kankanfogouol, a town in the north of Burkina Faso, near the Niger border, security sources told AFP. “A team from the Sebba military detachment, on patrol, was the target of an ambush led by armed terrorist groups (GAT) in Kankanfogouol (near the border with Niger) . The provisional assessment is of four deceased soldiers and four others still missing, " a security source told AFP.
Another security source contacted by AFP confirmed the attack, adding that "sweeping operations have been undertaken to find the missing elements and to track down the attackers" . "Kankanfogouol is located a few kilometers from Niger and armed groups pass from one side to the other of the border, thus carrying out attacks in both countries," said the security source.
Read also: Sahel: Burkina Faso plagued by violence
“The health emergency linked to the relentless fight against the Covid-19 should not make us forget the security imperatives. We are bound to stay alert on these two fronts, and I would like here to salute the commitment of our Defense and Security Forces , ” Burkinabé President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré wrote on Twitter, but does not mention this attack.
Burkina Faso is plagued by frequent jihadist attacks, often interspersed with inter-community conflicts, which have left more than 850 dead since 2015, and forced nearly 840,000 people to flee their homes. Under-equipped and poorly trained, the Burkinabé police fail to stem the spiral of jihadist violence despite the help of foreign forces, notably from France, present in the Sahel with 5,100 men as part of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane.
The center of the Sahel is affected by jihadist violence - often interspersed with inter-community conflicts - which left 4,000 people dead in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019, according to the UN.