Burkina Faso: four civilians killed during a Barkhane operation against jihadists

An operation by the Barkhane force against a terrorist group in northern Burkina Faso killed four civilians overnight from Monday to Tuesday, in addition to ten jihadists killed, the French army general staff announced Thursday in a communicated.

"Despite all the measures taken by the Barkhane force and by the unit engaged on the ground, 4 civilians

present on the camp in the middle of the terrorists, lost their lives during the exchange of fire", regretted the staff of the armies, who specified that "the bodies were buried with all the necessary dignity".

This tragedy took place during a Barkhane operation against jihadists about fifty kilometers northwest of Ouahigouya: after a first air strike, the soldiers on the ground were "attacked by a dozen terrorists ambushed" , finally "neutralized with the support of the attack helicopter after heavy fighting".

No French soldier was injured.

The jihadists killed were responsible for the deaths of 57 people in November

These jihadists, members of a “group affiliated with the Ansarul Islam organization” which carried out “numerous attacks against the civilian population” and against the security forces, were responsible for the death of 57 people, including 53 gendarmes, in Inata, in the north of Burkina Faso, in November 2021.

Around 60 jihadists had already been killed in northern Burkina Faso during an operation by Burkinabe forces, assisted by French units from Operation Barkhane, in January shortly before the coup in which President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was overthrown.

In the wake of Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso is caught in a spiral of violence attributed to armed jihadist groups, affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have killed more than 2,000 people and forced at least 1 .5 million people to flee their homes.