"In the early morning, the military detachment of Koutougou, province of Soum, was the target of a major attack perpetrated by armed terrorist groups," reported Monday, August 19 the General Staff of the Burkinabè armed forces. The province of Soum is located in northern Burkina Faso, in the Sahel region.
"In the ranks of the national forces, a provisional report states more than a dozen fallen soldiers and several wounded," the statement said. According to several security sources cited by AFP, other soldiers are "missing" and the balance could exceed twenty deaths. This attack could then be the most deadly in the region.
Kalidou Sy, the correspondent of France 24 in Burkina Faso, evokes him the figure of 24 dead. "According to several sources, the attackers allegedly acted around 5:00 am There were about a hundred people riding motorbikes and the attackers also burned dormitories and motorcycles." "As a result of this attack, a large air and ground sweeping operation was carried out in the area, which helped to neutralize many terrorists," says Kalidou Sy.
Emergency state
Until then, the most serious jihadist attack ever perpetrated against the Burkinabe army had killed 12 people in Nassoumbou, also in the Soum province, in December 2016. The north of Burkina has been the scene of several deadly attacks in recent months, but rather aimed at civilians.
Sahelian poor country of West Africa, Burkina Faso sinks for four and a half years in a spiral of violence, attributed to a dozen groups, some affiliated to al-Qaeda and others to the State Organization Islamic.
Jihadist attacks, more and more frequent and deadly, especially in the north and east of the country, have killed more than 500 people. In mid-July, the authorities extended for six months the state of emergency, in force since December 2018 in several provinces of the country.
With AFP