An ambush in northern Burkina Faso left at least six dead among army auxiliaries engaged in the fight against the jihadists on Thursday April 1.

"A group was ambushed this Thursday evening in the town of Dablo, six elements (civilians) were killed and another was wounded," said one of the officials of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), civilians recruited to fight against the jihadists.

Dablo is located 120 km north of the capital Ouagadougou.

This group was carrying out a "search after the disappearance of a volunteer from the village of Dou, when he was targeted," said the official.

"Search operations were undertaken after the clash," said a security source, who confirmed the death of six volunteers.

Missions to the military

Created in December 2019, the VDP are civilian auxiliaries exercising alongside the armed forces surveillance, information and protection missions, after a 14-day military training.

They also act as trackers and often fight alongside the defense and security forces.

On March 21, two volunteers were killed in two attacks, two weeks after five more of their comrades were killed in an ambush against a military detachment in the north of the country.

Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has been the scene of regular jihadist attacks since 2015. The north of the country is the area most affected by jihadist abuses, which have left more than 1,200 dead and more than one. million internally displaced people fleeing areas of violence.

Under-equipped and poorly trained, the Burkinabè security forces are unable to stem the spiral of jihadist violence despite the help of foreign forces, in particular from France, present in the Sahel countries with 5,100 men in the part of the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane.

With AFP

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