Burkina Faso: Suspected jihadist attack kills dozens

The Sahel’s fight against terrorism appears increasingly futile amid a suspected jihadist attack near Burkina Faso’s eastern Fada N’Gourma region, according to RFI and agencies on February 19th. 

At least 60 people are believed to have been killed in the February 14th ambush; however, no official death toll has been released. Reportedly, the base of the Water and Forestry Combat Units (UCEF) was targeted.

Witnesses claimed that the morgue and hospital in Fada N’Gourma were overflowing with bodies, while injured patients continued to arrive. Both soldiers and civilians are among the casualties, while members of the elite forces are still missing.

It is unclear if this assault is linked to an attack in the northern city of Titao on the same day, which killed at least 20 people when armed men stormed and looted a military camp, isolated Titao by destroying telephone installations and attacked a village.

So far, no jihadist group has claimed responsibility for either attack. However, the al-Qaeda affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) is particularly active in the Fada N’Gourma region, which borders Niger.

In January, JNIM claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 11 police officers in the Gourma province; security sources stated that “several hundred jihadists” attacked a police detachment in Balga.

However, the jihadist threat is not limited to Burkina Faso, as the Sahel region has increasingly become a global hub for Islamist terrorism, particularly in the junta-led states of Niger and Mali.

To counter extremism, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a cooperation pact designed to combat jihadist violence through shared military and intelligence resources.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the Bukinabe junta leader, vowed to restore stability upon his September 2022 rise to power, following a military coup that ousted the transitional president, Paul-Henri Damiba.

However, the junta has struggled to contain jihadist insurgencies and has become increasingly authoritarian under the guise of counter-terrorism measures.

The junta has been accused of carrying out mass killings of civilians, which it justifies by claiming that those killed allegedly had ties to jihadist organisations; the Burkinabe military and pro-government militias have been implicated in the massacres.

Since 2015, violence linked to groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State has killed at least 17,000 people in Burkina Faso.

RFI and agencies, Maghrebi.org