A dozen civilian auxiliaries and four soldiers were killed on Wednesday in an attack near Kaya, in northern Burkina Faso, where the president of the transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, is visiting, indicated this Thursday to the AFP security and local sources.
"
Early in the morning of Wednesday, terrorist groups attacked a mixed unit of soldiers and volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP, civilian auxiliaries) in Zorkoum", a town located about ten kilometers from
Kaya (north), a security source told AFP.
“
We deplore on the friendly side four soldiers and a dozen fallen volunteers.
On the enemy side, around twenty terrorists were neutralized
,” the source said.
Confirming the attack, another security source mentioned "
several losses among the defense elements
", without however mentioning a precise assessment.
The unit targeted in Zorkoum was tasked with securing repairs to the water supply facilities in the town of Kaya, which were regularly sabotaged by armed men, a local official told AFP, also confirming the offensive.
Visit of Ibrahim Traoré
Arrived Wednesday morning in the city of Kaya for a period of 48 hours, the president of the transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, went to the scene of the attack "a few hours later",
to
"
salute the bravery of the elements who managed to repel the attack inflicting huge losses on them
," a senior security source said.
Captain Traoré, who came to power by a putsch nearly six months ago, expressed in February his "
intact determination
" to fight the jihadists, despite the multiplication of attacks.
Eleven civilians, including five army auxiliaries, were killed on Sunday and Monday in several attacks by suspected jihadists in the center-east and east of the country, according to local and security sources.
Since 2015, Burkina has been caught in a spiral of violence perpetrated by jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, which have caused a total of 10,000 deaths - civilians and soldiers - according to NGOs, and some two million moved.