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18 terrorists killed in attempted raid on Burkina Faso police base

Thursday, 21 November 2019 5:34 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 21 November 2019 5:40 AM ]

The file photo shows a policeman patrolling in the center of Ouahigouya, in eastern Burkina Faso. (By AFP)

Eighteen terrorists have been killed in an attempted attack on a police base in the volatile north of Burkina Faso, authorities say.

The attack took place in the town of Arbinda, in Burkina Faso’s Soum Province, on Wednesday.

“The attackers were repulsed thanks to a prompt response,” police said in a statement.

It also left one police officer dead and seven others injured.

Weapons, motorcycles, and GPS equipment belonging to the militants were recovered from the scene, the statement added.

Another 32 terrorists were killed by the Burkina Faso army last week in two operations in the north of the country.

Over the past five years, Burkina Faso’s northern and eastern provinces have been struggling with Takfiri terrorism originating in neighboring Mali.

The attacks, perpetrated by the al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups, have killed nearly 700 people and displaced almost 500,000 others since early 2015.

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Takfiri terrorist groups have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The United Nations (UN) declared in July that the spread of terrorist attacks was so fast in West Africa that the region had to consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.

In 2017, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Mauritania launched the G5 Sahel task force to counter militancy in the region.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that the military approach alone would not be effective and called for greater efforts to relieve the roots of the conflict in the region, namely poverty, poor governance, and climate hazards.

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