Burkina Faso: At least seven civilians killed in jihadist attack

Africanews | At least seven people were killed Monday in an attack in Burkina Faso's north, including four civilian auxiliary enlisted in the battle against jihadism, the region's sixth in a few days.

"Armed men assaulted the drilling installations in Tonri Oulo, a village in the commune of Arbinda in Soum province, in the morning of Monday," a security source told AFP.

"Three individuals were killed and three others were injured during the sabotage of the installations." Four VDP (Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland) members who attempted to repel the assailants were also murdered, bringing the total death toll to "seven," according to the same source. In Burkina Faso, the VDPs, who are inadequately trained and armed civilian army auxiliaries, are paying a high price in the war against jihadism.

An authority from the area confirmed the attack. "We've recorded roughly 10 victims, including seven deaths," the officer revealed, adding that "terrorists destroyed two other boreholes." " "They damaged the mobile phone installations a few weeks ago, and now they're attempting to asphyxiate the town by cutting off all supplies," the insider added.

This tactic confirms armed terrorist organizations' attempts to capture towns in the country's north and east in recent weeks. "This entails blocking off access and communication routes to important towns." According to Mahamoudou Sawadogo, a scholar and expert on security issues in the Sahel, "these towns serve as their back base."

Several devastating attacks have occurred in the vicinity of Dori, one of the country's largest towns in the northeast, roughly 100 kilometers from Arbinda. These attacks claimed the lives of 23 civilians and 13 gendarmes. This is the biggest death toll in Burkina Faso since Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré on January 24. Kaboré is frequently accused of being inept in the face of attacks.

Burkina Faso has been engulfed in a spiral of violence since 2015, attributed to jihadist forces associated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which have killed over 2,000 people and caused at least 1.7 million people to abandon their homes in the aftermath of Mali and Niger.