At least twelve civilians were killed on Saturday during the attack on a locality by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, AFP learned on Sunday February 5 from local and security sources.
"
Saturday afternoon, armed men attacked Bani
", a locality located about 40 km from Dori in the Sahel region, said a resident and "
we deplore twelve dead according to the first assessment
", another witness speaking of "
thirteen deaths
".
A security source confirmed the attack by referring to "
a heavy toll
", without giving a figure.
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The first resident specified that the armed men “
targeted the police station, the town hall and a school
”.
"
Concessions (homes) and a mosque were hit by the gunfire of the attackers before the response of defense and security forces
," he added.
The second told him that “
these are men on motorcycles, who attacked the city.
They attacked several targets
.”
"
This balance sheet is likely to increase, because we have missing and wounded
", he added.
The security source confirmed that there were “
cases of missing persons, but the search is continuing
”.
"
Several armed individuals were also neutralized in the response and the hunt that followed
," she said.
Spiral of jihadist violence
Attacks attributed to suspected jihadists continue to increase in Burkina.
On Monday, ten gendarmes and two Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, army auxiliaries) stationed in the locality of Falagountou, in the Sahel region (North), were killed during "
a terrorist attack
", according to the army.
On the same day, fifteen people were found dead, in the south-west of the country, near Côte d'Ivoire, after being kidnapped the day before by suspected jihadists.
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Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in the spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali a few years earlier and which has spread beyond its borders.
Attacks by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have left thousands dead and some two million displaced.
These groups occupy about 40% of Burkinabe territory.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré, transitional president resulting from a military coup on September 30, 2022 - the second in eight months - has set himself the objective of "
reconquering the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists
".