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Several attacks in northern Burkina Faso attributed to jihadist groups caused the death of at least 70 Burkinabe soldiers between February 17 and 19. It is the deadliest attack since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power through a coup in late September 2022.
At least 70 Burkinabe soldiers have been killed in two attacks in the north, near Mali, in four days, confirming the upsurge in jihadist violence in Burkina Faso since the beginning of the year. In total, deadly raids blamed on jihadist groups have left more than 200 civilians and soldiers dead in the country since early January.
On Monday night, at least 15 soldiers were killed in the province of Oudalan, in the far north of the country, a few kilometers from the border with Mali, according to security sources.
“The Tin-Akoff detachment was the object of a violent attack,” declared one of the sources, citing a balance of “about fifteen dead” and “elements missing.” A second security source put the balance at 19 dead and “dozens of missing.”
According to the first source, the air and land response of the Burkinabe Army has made it possible to “neutralize” “dozens of terrorists”. And the operations continue, “concentrated in the province of Oudalan, which has seen a resurgence of violence in recent days.”
It is also in this province, near Déou, where at least 51 soldiers died in an ambush on Friday, a still provisional figure, according to the Army. It is the deadliest attack since Captain Ibrahim Traoré came to power, through a coup at the end of September 2022. “The death toll will undoubtedly rise to more than 100 dead soldiers,” said Wassim Nasr, a journalist for France 24 specialized in jihadist movements.
This attack is also the one that has caused the most deaths in the Army since November 2021. Then, 57 gendarmes died after asking for help without success. The attack caused a deep trauma in the armed forces and in public opinion and occurred shortly before the first coup, in January 2022, which overthrew the elected president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, accused of “incapacity” against the jihadists. .
In a reaction Tuesday to the Deou ambush, Captain Traoré stated that in this “battle strewn with pitfalls”, the “patriotic impulse” and “determination” of the authorities remained “intact until the final victory” against the groups jihadists. According to the Army, the response to the attack on Friday killed 160 jihadists.
“The Islamic State group was already present in these areas,” Wassim Nasr said.
Call for “national unity”
The head of the junta can count on the support of various political parties and civil society organizations.
“In these difficult hours, I urge all Burkinabe to cultivate the spirit of national unity and support the transitional authorities in their determination to restore our territorial integrity,” Zéphirin Diabré, president of the Union for Change, said in a statement. UPC) and former minister of President Kaboré.
“In these difficult times”, the National Youth Council of Burkina Faso (CNJ-BF), a civil society organization close to the junta, invited in a statement “all young people to a national and sacred union around” to the armed forces, their civilian auxiliaries, and the authorities “in their determination to restore our territorial integrity.”
The country, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been trapped since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that began in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and has spread beyond its borders. The violence has left more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers dead in the past seven years, according to NGOs, and at least two million displaced.
Shortly after taking power, Captain Traoré set himself the goal of “reconquering” 40% of Burkina Faso’s territory controlled by jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. But since then, the attacks attributed to them have only increased and the ambush on Friday is “the first real proof of Captain Traoré”, headlined ‘L’Observateur Paalga’, an influential independent newspaper on Tuesday.
Its high number of victims is cause for concern. “How can we understand that seven years later, despite the modus operandi known to all, our combat forces continue to fall into ambushes of this type?” asks political analyst Harouna Traoré.
Eager to regain their “sovereignty” in the fight against the jihadists, the Burkinabe authorities last month asked the French Saber force, made up of 400 special forces soldiers, to leave the country. The withdrawal is taking place “under proper conditions of cooperation with the Burkinabe,” the French foreign minister told France 5 television on Tuesday. “Things are going well,” Catherine Colonna said.
The deadliest attack committed in the country remains that of Solhan (north), in June 2021, in which between 130 and 160 civilians were reportedly killed.
*Article adapted from its original in French
with AFP
