Two people were killed and three injured Thursday in northern Burkina Faso, near the Niger border, in an attack by unidentified armed men, we learned from security and local sources.
“Two public transport vehicles were intercepted this morning on the Markoye-Tokabangou axis, in the Sahel region, by unidentified armed individuals.
Two people were killed and three seriously injured
,
”
a security source told AFP.
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The vehicles, one of which was set on fire by the attackers, had left Markoye for the market in Dolbel, a village 25 km away, on Nigerien territory, explained a resident reached by telephone.
“The attack was carried out by around ten men on motorcycles.
They stripped some passengers before heading to Niger "
, said this source, specifying that
" the wounded were first taken to the health center of Markoye, before being evacuated to the medical center of Gorom-gorom "
.
On February 17, eight people, mainly traders, were killed under the same conditions on the same Markoye-Dolbel axis.
"After the February attack, traders took a short break but quickly resumed their activities between Markoye and Dolbel, which is the closest main market
,
"
said a local elected official.
Like its neighbors Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso has been confronted, since 2015, with jihadist and inter-community violence which has left more than 1,300 dead and a million displaced.
In May 2020, around 15 traders were killed in similar circumstances when their convoy was attacked on a road in the north of the country.
Nine other traders had already been killed in another attack four months earlier.
Fearing these recurring attacks in the North, the transporters organize convoys accompanied by volunteers for the defense of the motherland, backups of the defense forces.
The army also sometimes escorts these convoys.
Under-equipped and poorly trained, the security forces of Burkina Faso are unable to stem the spiral of jihadist violence, despite the help of foreign forces, in particular from France, present in the Sahel with 5,100 men from the operation. anti-jihadist Barkhane.
The so-called
“three borders
” area between Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali is particularly targeted by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.