Burkina Faso attack on military post kills dozens of soldiers

Dozens of soldiers were killed and scores of others wounded in an assault on Thursday April 27 on a military base in eastern Burkina Faso in the latest outburst of violence in the West African country.

The attack targeted the military detachment in Ougarou in Burkina Faso’s Est administrative region, the military-led government said, leaving 33 soldiers dead and 12 injured. The besieged soldiers killed at least 40 “terrorists” before reinforcements arrived, the army also said in a statement. This latest violence comes as the armed forces were accused of indiscriminately killing civilians during anti-insurgency missions.

In a tacit reference to these accusations, the government on the same day expressed “particular concern over reports of killings, in circumstances that remain to be clarified”.

Burkina Faso is one of several West African nations battling a violent Islamist insurgency that has spread from neighboring Mali over the past decade. Burkinabe armed forces, who have been fighting rebels since 2015, have little to no control over vast areas of the country’s territory. More than 10,000 civilians and members of the security forces have died, according to estimates, while at least two million people have fled their homes.

Frustrations over the authorities’ failure to protect civilians spurred two coups last year, the second of which catapulted to power the current leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, in September.