Eight Burkinabé soldiers were killed this Monday, May 11 during a jihadist attack in Kankanfogouol, a town located in the north of Burkina Faso, near the Niger border, security sources told AFP on Tuesday.
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Earlier security sources said Monday that at least four soldiers were killed and four missing in the jihadist attack. " The bodies of the missing soldiers were found lifeless during the sweep, bringing the death toll to eight, " said a senior security source.
The attack took place on Monday when a " team from the Sebba military detachment, on patrol, was the target of an ambush led by armed terrorist groups in Kankanfogouol ", a security source told AFP. " 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 source.
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“ 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.
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Under-equipped and poorly trained, the Burkinabè police do not succeed in stopping 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 has been affected by jihadist violence that left 4,000 people dead in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019, according to the UN.
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