Burkina Faso: Attack on military base kills at least 28
The incident occurred on April 22nd at a military base in Bagmoussa, located in the east-central province of Koulpelogo.
Burkina Faso’s security crisis has seemingly deteriorated further amid an attack on a military base that killed at least 28 people, according to RFI and agencies on April 25th.
The incident occurred on April 22nd at a military base in Bagmoussa, located in the east-central province of Koulpelogo.
Security sources stated that the dead included Burkinabe soldiers and members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP), a civilian militia that collaborates with the army.
Additionally, several more people are reported missing, while the military base was also looted and ransacked in the attack.
VDP fighters were previously targeted in suspected jihadist attacks in the central-eastern village of Dourtenga on March 15th, and the north-central town of Tougouri on March 22nd.
The VDP have been implicated, alongside the Burkinabe military, in mass killings of civilians under the guise of fighting Islamist terrorism.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack; however, incursions of armed men have been reported in the Soudougui commune, where Bagmoussa is located, in recent weeks.
Soudougui is situated in eastern Burkina Faso, near the Togolese border, where groups like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have become increasingly entrenched.
Jihadists are particularly active in eastern Burkina Faso, where police detachments and military bases have been targeted.
Amid rising Islamist violence, Burkina Faso’s junta has urged citizens to reject democracy, claiming it is harmful to African nations as it fails to protect civilians from violence.
Led by Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power following a September 2022 coup, the junta has struggled to contain the growing Islamist threat, despite Traoré promising to restore stability upon his rise to power.
Islamist terrorism is not limited to Burkina Faso, as neighbouring Mali and Niger are also experiencing escalating violence from groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Data from the Global Terrorism Index indicated that the Sahel accounted for nearly half of all terror-related deaths in 2025, with Burkina Faso being the country most affected by terrorism in 2023 and 2024.
Although the Burkinabe junta has not commented on the April 22nd attack, it did adopt a draft bill on the organisation of a military reserve following an April 24th cabinet meeting in Bobo-Dioulasso.
This bill authorises the recruitment and training of 100,000 reservists by the end of 2026 to create a pool of “fighting age” citizens who can be “mobilised immediately.”
Maghrebi contacted the Burkinabe Ministry of Defence regarding the April 22nd attack, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
RFI and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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