Ten soldiers killed, Fifty wounded in Burkina Faso army base attack

At least 10 soldiers died and around 50 were wounded in Burkina Faso on Monday (24 October) in an assault on an army base and other strategic installations in the northern city of Djibo.
The “terrorist attack” hit the 14th regiment at a military base and “other strategic installations in the town“, which has been under a jihadi blockade for three months, the army said. “The preliminary toll is 10 soldiers fallen during fighting and about 50 injured and being treated,” the statement said. Air support had been called in to back up the operations after the pre-dawn raiders had fired shells at the Djibo barracks. “On the enemy side, at least 18 bodies of terrorists have been counted during mopping-up operations which are still underway,“ the statement also said.
Djibo’s population of some 30,000 has been cut off for three months with jihadis controlling the main roads after blowing up bridges. An attack on a supply convoy heading for Djibo on 26 September left 37 dead, most of them soldiers. Seventy truck drivers are still missing. This attack helped trigger the latest coup in Burkina just four days later, led by young army captain Ibrahim Traore who became the country’s interim president 14 October, vowing to win back territory from the jihadis. It was the West African nation’s second coup in eight months. “We are confronted with a security and humanitarian crisis without precedent,” Traore said at his swearing-in. “Our aims are none other than the reconquest of territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists. Burkina’s existence is in danger.”