Five policemen killed in an attack near border

At least five police officers were killed and another wounded Sunday in a “terrorist” attack on their base in northwestern Burkina Faso, near the border with Mali, the police chief said.

Yesterday morning “around 05:00, gunmen attacked a police detachment” and a “border post” in the town of Di, in the province of Souros, in the northwestern part of the country , according to an announcement by the General Police Directorate of Burkina Faso.

“The provisional tally is in the ranks of the friendly forces, five policemen killed and one slightly wounded”; and “in the ranks of the enemy, about fifteen terrorists were neutralized” (s.s. killed), according to the announcement.

Earlier, sources close to the security forces spoke of “three missing police officers” and “heavy property damage”. They also said that eight motorcycles and a police car were stolen.

An “air operation is underway” to pursue the perpetrators, according to the announcement of the General Police Directorate, which does not refer to missing persons.

This was the fourth attack in six days against army and police forces participating in the anti-jihadist struggle in the Sahel.

On Friday, one soldier was killed and another wounded when an explosive device was detonated as a convoy passed by in Tapoa province (east).

On Thursday, two gendarmes were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Udalan province (north).

On Monday, three soldiers were killed and seven wounded in an attack on an armed forces unit in the southwestern part of the country, near the Ivory Coast border.

Earlier this month, 14 army men were killed in an attack in the north.

On August 9, 12 members of the Army and Gendarmerie Rapid Response Unit were killed in an ambush.

Burkina Faso, a poor country in West Africa, has been facing increasingly frequent and deadly attacks and ambushes by jihadist organizations since 2015, especially in its northern and eastern parts, as well as neighboring states Mali and Niger.

The actions of jihadists, who swear allegiance to either the Islamic State (IS) or al-Qaeda, in combination with racial and inter-ethnic violence, have claimed the lives of at least 2,000 people and forced more than 1.4 million people to flee. others to leave their homes, according to official figures.