Burkina Faso: Suspected jihadist attack kills at least 12

Burkina Faso’s fight against terrorism appears increasingly futile amid reports that a suspected jihadist attack has killed at least 12 people in a village, according to Africa News via AFP on March 17th.

The attack occurred in the central-eastern village of Dourtenga on March 15th; nine members of the civilian volunteer fighters (VDP) were killed, along with three other civilians.

VDP fighters assist the Burkinabe military and were previously targeted in March 2025 by Islamist militants in the country’s east.

Furthermore, the VDP have been implicated, alongside the Burkinabe military, by Human Rights Watch in mass killings of civilians with suspected Islamist ties.

So far, no Islamist group has claimed responsibility for the March 15th attack, which was reportedly part of a series of attacks targeting the army and VDP fighters across Burkina Faso between March 14th and 15th.

According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), at least 130 people have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks over the past 10 days.

Groups like the al-Qaeda affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) are particularly active in eastern Burkina Faso.

The eastern Fada N’Gourma region borders Niger and has faced repeated attacks in recent months.

On February 14th, a suspected jihadist attack targeted the base of the Water and Forestry Combat Units (UCEF) in Fada N’Gourma, killing at least 60 people.

Since 2015, extremist violence has killed tens of thousands of people in Burkina Faso, with ACLED estimating that more than half of the deaths have occurred in the last three years.

Burkina Faso experienced two military coups in 2022, with the September overthrow installing Captain Ibrahim Traoré as the leader of the military junta.

Traoré ousted the former transitional president, Paul-Henri Damiba, who has since been arrested on charges including embezzlement, corruption, and incitement to commit offences.

Despite vowing to counter terrorism upon his rise to power, Traoré has struggled to contain the growing extremist threat.

Islamist violence is not limited to Burkina Faso, with the Sahel and West Africa more broadly struggling to maintain stability amid a growing jihadist insurgency.

Militant violence has also spilt over into neighbouring Togo and Benin, with the latter experiencing an attack by jihadists that killed 15 soldiers at a military base on March 4th.

Africa News via AFP, Maghrebi.org