According to three security sources, sixteen security personnel were murdered in an ambush on Wednesday in the north of Burkina Faso, which was hard-hit by the insurgency.
The attack happened close to Koumestenga hamlet in Namentenga province in the Centre-North region, one of many places where jihadist activity is rampant.
On Friday, two unnamed gendarmerie sources and one army source who both wanted to remain anonymous confirmed the attack and provided the fatality toll. According to them, nine volunteers for a self-defense squad and seven gendarmes were murdered.
The army made no official statements regarding the assault.
Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries fighting a violent insurgency that took root in neighboring Mali in 2012.
Militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have since spread across the Sahel and to coastal West African states despite local and foreign troops’ military intervention and UN peacekeeping efforts.
The violence has killed thousands, displaced millions, and contributed to growing food insecurity. It has also been a factor that has spurred two military takeovers in Mali and two in Burkina Faso since 2020.
The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres suspended its operations in an area of northwest Burkina Faso this week after armed assailants killed two of its employees.
