By RFIPosted on 07-11-2019Modified on 07-11-2019 at 13:45

At least 37 civilians were killed in the attack on a bus carrying workers from the Semafo mine in the east of the country. The country is in shock.

It is consternation this Thursday in Burkina Faso, the convictions are unanimous after this attack. One question remains unanswered: how could a convoy of such magnitude be attacked by terrorists with such a heavy toll? Research is still ongoing in Boungou Forest to find survivors. It is an area that is very difficult to access and where communications go wrong.

A crisis meeting is being held right now on the side of the presidential palace. In particular, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Security, Defense and Communication are present. It is a matter of seeing how we can strengthen the security of the population, review the whole strategy in terms of securing these long convoys concerning the workers of these mining companies.

In any case, in Burkina Faso, voices are already being raised to denounce what has happened and to ask the government to increase vigilance to prevent such a situation from happening again. Indeed, for more than a year, roads in eastern Burkina are virtually unchallengeable. Attacks on FDI, that is, artisanal mines, have multiplied. Already last December, on the same road of Boungou, a vehicle of the armed forces jumped on these explosive devices, killing five soldiers.

No claim

Foreign mining interests in the East are also often the target of violence. In January a Canadian geologist was kidnapped and murdered at the Tiabangou site. Yesterday's attack is unique and spectacular. Very coordinated. While the violence had calmed down in the region in recent weeks, following the military operation Otapuanu. With this attack, the terrorists remind that they are still in the place.

Regarding the armed groups that are raging in this region of the East, it is still very mysterious. For the time being, none of the two major groups operating in the Sahel , the Muslim and Islamic Support Group or the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS) have claimed responsibility for attacks in the east. This region is the largest in Burkina. Frontier territory, gold and forest, it has always been a corridor of passage and traffic of all kinds.

Old criminal cells

According to a security analyst, the groups that are raging today would be mainly the emanation of former criminal cells that would have seen an opportunity in the jihad. Some would be close to the EIGS. But at this time we do not know any charismatic leader or preacher who would embody the terrorist movement of eastern Burkina Faso.

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