Near the village of Aorema, in the Ouahigouya region of Burkina Faso, a military post of the Burkinabé army and its civilian auxiliaries of the Volunteers for Homeland Defense (VHD) was hit by a jihadist attack. In the clash 32 volunteers and 8 soldiers (data not yet confirmed with certainty) lost their lives and as many were injured; while the army claims to have counterattacked by neutralizing over 50 terrorists.
The official statement from the governor of Ouahigouya underlines how the perpetrators of the attack are armed men who have not yet been identified and that all the assessments made so far remain provisional in nature.
Saturday's massacre follows a string of highly deadly attacks perpetrated by jihadist groups affiliated with the Al Qaeda terrorist cell and the Islamic State. Last week 44 civilians were involved in two different armed attacks in the north-east of the country; while the day after the Aorema clash, on Sunday, another terrorist group attacked a military detachment in Kongoussi, in the north-central part of the country, two soldiers were killed by the attack.
To limit the attacks, a state of emergency is in force in eight of the thirteen regions of the country with over 800 soldiers and VDP volunteer fighters mobilized in the military operation called "Kapidougou". The military action is being conducted jointly with the Malian army and aims to neutralize the jihadist terrorist groups spread across the two countries.
To read more, please visit:
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/dozens-of-defence-forces-killed-in-burkina-faso-attack-governor
- https://tvpworld.com/69217860/attack-on-army-volunteers-left-40-dead-in-burkina-faso
- https://www.voanews.com/a/forty-dead-in-attack-on-army-and-volunteers-in-north-burkina-faso-/7052651.html
- https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20230413-general-mobilisation-declared-in-burkina-faso-after-series-of-jihadist-attacks
by Federica Tognolli
