Deadly Attack By Suspected Jihadists Claims 20 Lives In Burkina Faso

At least Twenty people were killed in Burkina Faso on Sunday in an attack by suspected jihadists in Nohao, near the town of Bittou, in the Center-East region bordering Togo.

AFP reports that the attack killed around twenty people, mainly shopkeepers,” a security source.

According to a trader’s account, the toll reveals a devastating “25 fatalities” and paints a grim picture of “over fifteen transport trucks pillaged and subsequently set ablaze by the terrorists”

Another merchant disclosed that “ten individuals sustained injuries” and were promptly evacuated to Bittou. These traders had journeyed to the market in Cinkansé, a bustling trading town located along the Togo border, and were en route back when the incident occurred.

“We deplore the loss of life whose bodies were deposited” at “the morgue of the CHR (Regional Hospital Center) of Tenkodogo”, capital of the Center-East region, said in a press release a local official, Sami Beranger Pooda, who does not specify any figures.

Another attack occurred “Thursday around 6 p.m.”, according to the same security source, and “targeted a convoy of several dozen vehicles carrying goods”.

It would be recalled that Burkina Faso has been ensnared in an escalating cycle of violence since 2015, perpetrated by jihadist factions affiliated with both Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. According to Acled, the conflict monitoring group, this distressing situation has resulted in a significant toll of over 5,000 casualties since the outset of 2023.

This wave of violence has forcibly displaced over two million individuals within the borders of the country.

In mid-July, President and Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who assumed office through a coup d’état in September 2022, expressed deep concern over the “growing and repetitive assaults on civilians,” attributing these actions to what he perceived as “cowardly” tactics employed by the jihadists.