Burkina Faso has been struggling with a jihadist insurgency since 2015. (Representative)
Ouagadougou:
Ten people were killed when a humanitarian convoy was ambushed in Burkina Faso, the government announced on Sunday, bringing the death toll to at least 50 after a series of attacks blamed on jihadists.
The ambush occurred Saturday near the northern city of Barsalogho, the statement said, adding that an attack on a cattle market in the eastern part of the country earlier today had left 25 dead, according to a provisional count.
The humanitarian convoy was returning from the northern city of Foube after delivering food there, the statement said. At least five civilians and five gendarmes were killed and around 20 people were injured.
Saturday’s attacks came a day after a convoy of mainly traders escorted by a local self-defense unit was targeted in the north of West Africa, killing 15 people. The attack in Loroum province was also blamed on the jihadists.
The east and north of the former French colony are the hardest hit by jihadist attacks, which have killed more than 900 people and caused the flight of some 860,000 people in the past five years.
A local governor, Colonel Saidou Sanou, said in a statement that the bloodshed had highlighted the need for the military and residents to work together to “defeat the terrorist hydra”.
Increasingly frequent attacks
Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been struggling with a jihadist insurgency since 2015.
The conflict has led to attacks on Fulani stock breeders whom other communities accuse of supporting the militants.
The armed forces of Burkina Faso are conducting counterterrorism operations with increasing frequency.
The Sahel country is part of a regional effort to fight an Islamist insurgency with Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.
But their soldiers, under-equipped and poorly trained, are struggling despite the help of France, which has 5,000 men in the region.
The attacks have intensified in Burkina Faso since last year, becoming almost a daily occurrence.
A security source said the country had become a jihadist paradise thanks to the role of former President Blaise Compaoré as a mediator, in particular to secure the release of Western hostages.
Compaoré was overthrown in 2014.
Many foreigners have been abducted in Burkina Faso, six of whom are said to have been detained in a camp in Mali near the border with Burkina.
On Friday, the wife of one of them, elderly Australian doctor Kenneth Elliot, released a video calling for his release.
The unrest in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger killed around 4,000 people last year, according to UN figures.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
