At least six people, including two civilian auxiliaries of the Burkinabè security forces in the anti-jihadist fight were killed on Monday in an attack in the north of the country, near the Malian border, AFP learned Tuesday from an elected official. local.
Read also: Burkina Faso at the polls under the jihadist threat
"Armed individuals attacked the village of Loumbila last night (Monday)"
, a locality 35 km from Ouahigouya, capital of the northern region, killing
"six people, including two volunteers"
in defense of the homeland (VDP ), said this local elected official on condition of anonymity, reporting three injured.
The assailants, numbering
“a hundred”
, according to this elected official,
“attacked several sites, in particular the health center, the market, and set several on fire.
They also took away several goods including food and two-wheeled vehicles and tricycles (tricycles) ”
, he detailed.
"Heavy fighting was actually reported last night in Koumbri and reinforcements were deployed in the area,"
a security source told AFP, confirming the
"provisional toll of six deaths and extensive damage"
but without estimating the number of attackers.
A local official of the VDP, established in November 2019, also confirmed the attack and "the loss of two elements", explaining that he was alerted
"some time after the attack at around 6:00 pm".
These civilian volunteers receive 14 days of military training before performing surveillance and protection missions.
They are equipped with small arms as well as means of communication and observation.
More than a hundred have been killed in action since January 2020. Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has been the scene of regular jihadist attacks since 2015. The north of the country, bordering Mali, is the most affected by jihadist abuses which left more than 1,200 dead and more than a million displaced, fleeing areas of violence.
The attack comes as neighboring Niger on Saturday recorded the deadliest attack blamed on jihadist groups against civilians in the Sahel (100 dead).