The authorities of Burkina Faso are once again facing the terrorist threat. The Burkinabe army claimed Sunday (November 17th) that it had killed 32 "terrorists" during two days of operations in the north of the country, plagued by increasingly frequent and deadly jihadist attacks.

The announcement came about 10 days after a spectacular attack in the east of a convoy of the Canadian mining company Semafo, attributed to jihadists and which killed at least 38 people.

>> Read also: Burkina Faso: at least 37 dead in the attack on a convoy of a Canadian company

Several women released

On Friday, a military patrol was attacked by gunmen near Yorsala in Lorum province. "The vigorous reaction of the unit, followed by a vast raking of the forest of Yorsala, caused intense fighting that lasted several hours," said the Burkinabe staff in a statement released Sunday.

"During these clashes, 24 terrorists were neutralized and various materials were recovered" and "a soldier unfortunately lost his life," he said. According to the statement, "this operation also freed several women who were held by terrorists and used as sex slaves".

Weapons and ammunition recovered

"As a result of these clashes and on the basis of accurate intelligence," the army on Saturday conducted "offensive action in the vicinity of Bourzanga in Bam province, which allowed to neutralize eight terrorists and recover a large batch armaments, ammunition and other materials, "continued the staff. A Burkinabe soldier was also killed in the clashes, the army said.

The Chief of Staff "congratulates all units for their unwavering commitment and urges them to maintain this momentum". At the beginning of February, the Burkinabè army announced that it had neutralized "146 terrorists" during a vast operation in the North, but this assessment was considered by many observers to be not very credible.

Almost daily attacks

Under-equipped and poorly trained, the army, the police and the gendarmerie of this poor country of West Africa are unable to stop the jihadist attacks, which intensified in 2019 until becoming almost daily.

Until the popular uprising that drove him out after 27 years of power in 2014, former president Blaise Compaoré was playing regional mediators, regularly negotiating with jihadist groups. Meanwhile, he had disadvantaged the army for the benefit of his presidential guard, now dissolved. Scalded by a failed putsch in 2015, the new civilian power did not immediately take the measure of the Islamist danger.

In total, attacks attributed to jihadist groups, some affiliated with al-Qaida, others to the Islamic State movement, have killed nearly 700 people since early 2015, according to an AFP count, and about 500,000 internally displaced persons. refugees, according to the UN.

With AFP