While the authorities of Burkina Faso face the terrorist threat, five men of the defense and security forces were killed and 11 wounded in the night of Friday 18 to Saturday 19 October, during two simultaneous attacks in Bahn and Yensé, two localities of the north of the country, announced Saturday the staff of the armies.

"At about three o'clock in the morning, the military detachments of Bahn, in the province of Lorum and Yensé, in Yatenga province were the targets of terrorist attacks, almost at the same time," the army said in a statement.

"These attacks have unfortunately cost the lives of five detachment personnel, including a police officer, and eleven soldiers have been wounded," said the staff, who say the military has "repulsed the attackers" with " vigorous riposte "," before the arrival of the reinforcements ".

A spiral of growing violence

According to a security source attached by AFP, "the detachment of Yensé registered the most victims and suffered the most damage". The source said that the "detachment personnel" mentioned in the army statement were military personnel, with the exception of the policeman killed.

A poor country in West Africa, Burkina Faso has been caught for four and a half years in a spiral of increasing violence attributed to jihadist armed groups, some affiliated with Al Qaeda and others affiliated with the Islamic State group, even though attacks are almost never claimed.

A policeman was killed Thursday in an attack in Nadiagou, in the east of the country, according to a police union. Last Saturday, four civilians were killed in Lorum province, just days after another attack that killed eight people in the same area.

Deadly attack in a mosque

The most serious attack in recent weeks has targeted a mosque on October 11, where 16 worshipers were slaughtered at the time of prayer.

Since the beginning of 2015, jihadist attacks, more and more frequent and deadly, especially in the north and east of Burkina Faso, have caused more than 600 deaths, according to an AFP count.

The police, who pay a heavy price, seem unable to stop jihadist violence. They remain under-equipped and under-trained, despite the government's deliberate rhetoric.

A curfew has been introduced in several northern provinces where a restriction on the movement of motorized vehicles is also in effect.

With AFP