Africa
Terrorists Free 66 Abducted Women, Children In Burkina Faso
The extremists were said to have besieged towns around the West African country
Burkina Faso’s army has rescued 66 women and children who were abducted by Islamic extremists while looking for wild fruits in the country’s northern Sahel region.
Security forces conducted a rescue operation and freed 27 women and 39 babies, children and young girls in the adjacent Centre-Nord region, national broadcaster Radiodiffusion Television du Burkina (RTP) said on Friday.
“They have found freedom after eight long days in the hands of their kidnappers,” an RTP presenter said.
Recalled that the Authorities in Burkina Faso had announced that some fifty women were abducted on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 12 and 13 by suspected jihadists in two localities to the north and west of the northern town of Arbinda.
The extremists were said to have besieged towns around the West African country, preventing people and goods from moving freely. The town of Arbinda has been under jihadi blockade for years, making women more vulnerable to attacks if they try to leave, rights groups say.
Jihadist violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has overrun Burkina Faso, killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people in the West African nation.
The failure of successive governments to stop the fighting has caused widespread discontent and triggered two military coups in 2022.
Meanwhile, the military junta that seized power in September, vowing to restore security, is still struggling to stem the violence.
