By RFIPosted on 02-01-2020Modified on 02-01-2020 at 01:31
In Burkina Faso, the security forces did not have a rest during the end-of-year festivities. The gendarmerie of Djibo, in the province of Soum, in the north of the country, was attacked on the evening of December 31. We deplore a victim in the ranks of the gendarmes.
New Year's yard attacks are not uncommon. They are often part of a strategy of harassment by terrorists. Djibo has been under increasing pressure for several months because it represents a strategic lock that the jihadists are trying to blow up.
It was around 8 p.m. that several attackers stormed the brigade. According to a source at the national gendarmerie, the arrival in reinforcement of an armed detachment made it possible to quickly repel the terrorists of which several would have been killed.
Already in October 2018 , several men have besieged this same gendarmerie. Result: burned vehicles, stolen weapons and escaped prisoners.
Last November, the mayor of Djibo was assassinated . Terrorists have been trying to seize this capital for months. They first isolated it by cutting strategic routes. The Boukouma bridge, to the east of the city, for example, was destroyed, preventing any connection with Arbinda, the second locality of the province.
In mid-September, a Barkhane operation was even launched on the ground " at the request of the Burkinabè authorities and in cooperation with their armed forces ", according to the report of the French general staff dated 23 September. The objective was to " secure this important lock between the north of Burkina and Ouagadougou ". This is the first major ground operation, officially recognized by the French force in Burkina Faso.
► Read also: Burkina Faso: the situation remains worrying in the Soum province
On the same subject
Sahel: in operation with FAMA and Barkhane in Gourma [Reportage]
Burkina Faso: Police Prosecuted for the Death of 11 People in Custody
Burkina Faso: activist Kémi Séba sentenced for “contempt” of the president
comments