At least 14 people, including eight civilian army auxiliaries, were killed Monday in two separate attacks by jihadist groups in northern Burkina Faso, security and local sources told AFP on Tuesday (22 November).

“Armed individuals attacked in the early morning of Monday the village of Safi, located in the commune of Boala, near Kaya (center-north). The Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, civilian army auxiliaries) who were directly targeted and lost eight elements," a security source told AFP.

Several other elements were also injured during this attack, said the same source.

A local official of the VDP, joined to Kaya, confirmed the attack, evoking for his part a balance sheet of "7 dead, 10 injured and significant material damage".

"On the same day on Monday, near Markoye, in the province of Oudalan (north-east), armed individuals killed six civilians, and carried away vehicles and other property," added the security source.

"The terrorists kidnapped three young people on the Salmossi-Markoye axis, who were then found dead in the bush during the day (Monday)", explained a relative of the victims joined by AFP.

"They robbed several people who fell on them on the axis, and carried away vehicles", added this source.

Regular attacks

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been regularly bereaved by increasingly frequent jihadist attacks that have killed thousands and forced some two million people to flee their homes.

These attacks have multiplied in recent months, mainly in the north and east of the country.

Appointed President of the Transition by the Constitutional Council on October 21, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, author of a military coup on September 30 against Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, has set himself the objective of "regaining of the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists".

It was the second coup in Burkina Faso in eight months where the putschists each time invoked the deterioration of the security situation.

On October 25, the new power launched the recruitment of 50,000 Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), civilian auxiliaries to the army, who are to come "to reinforce the ranks of the army within the framework of the fight against terrorism".

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app