Seven soldiers and 80 terrorists killed in an attack in Burkina Faso
“A significant number of terrorists simultaneously attacked the military detachment,” said the general staff.
The staff evokes an attack of “rare intensity”, which lasted “several hours”. On Tuesday, seven soldiers, several civilians and 80 “terrorists” were killed in an attack in northern Burkina Faso, the army said in a statement. The attack targeted a military detachment located in Arbinda, in the north of the country.
Tuesday morning, “a significant number of terrorists attacked simultaneously the military detachment and the civilian populations of Arbinda”, in the province of Soum, according to the press release. “A hundred motorcycles, weapons, and ammunition in large quantities have been recovered” by the army, said the statement.
Four terrorists killed on December 16 “The determination and the audacity of the detachment elements made up of the land forces and the gendarmerie made it possible to neutralize 80 terrorists”, underlined the staff.
“On the friend side, we, unfortunately, deplore seven dead, including four soldiers and three gendarmes and twenty wounded several civilian victims have also been counted,” she also said.
“A hunt for the terrorists, who had to retreat in the face of the response of the elements of the detachment, was started” in coordination “with the air forces”, underlines the staff. On December 16, the army announced that it had neutralized four terrorists in Belhouro, also in northern Burkina Faso.
700 dead, 560,000 displaced and refugees since 2015 Since the beginning of November, the Burkinabè defense and security forces have announced that they have killed a hundred jihadists during several operations, reports that cannot be confirmed by independent sources.
Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has been the scene of regular jihadist attacks since the first quarter of 2015, like its Sahelian neighbors. The North and East are particularly affected and Ouagadougou, the capital, has been hit three times.
Since 2015, jihadist attacks in Burkina have left more than 700 dead and around 560,000 displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations. These attacks are rarely claimed but attributed to jihadist armed groups, some affiliated with Al-Qaeda and others with the Islamic State group.
By Le Parisien with AFP