at least 12 people killed in an attack in the north of the country

On the evening of December 7, “armed individuals carried out an attack against the populations of Boala”in the Centre-Nord region, “killing at least twelve people”told AFP a resident, stating that the victims are “almost all of the Volunteers for the defense of the fatherland“(VDP), army auxiliaries.

“There are at least ten volunteers who were killed and several injured who were evacuated to the Boulsa medical center“, the capital of the province of Namentenga located in this region, said another resident, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

A regional VDP official, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the attack, saying that “several terrorists were neutralized by the volunteers after more than two hours of fighting”.

This new attack is the fourth known since December 4 in Burkina: they left a total of at least 27 dead.
Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 in this same region, at least nine civilians died during the attack on a village and a convoy of traders.
On Sunday 4, six civilians, including four teachers, were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in Bittou, a city in Burkina Faso near the borders of Ghana and Togo.

On November 26, four soldiers were also killed in the explosion of an improvised device in the north, and three civilians shot dead in another attack in the northeast.

(RE)read: Burkina Faso: seven people killed in two attacks in the north of the country

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been regularly bereaved by increasingly frequent jihadist attacks that have killed thousands and forced some two million people to flee their homes.

These attacks by groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda targeting soldiers and civilians have multiplied in recent months, mainly in the north and east of the country.
Appointed President of the Transition by the Constitutional Council on October 21, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, author of a military coup on September 30 – the second in eight months – has set himself the goal of “the reconquest of the territory occupied by these hordes of terrorists”. Jihadists occupy about 40% of Burkinabe territory.

Following a recruitment campaign, 90,000 civilians signed up to join the Homeland Defense Volunteers (VDP, civilian army auxiliaries), called upon to assist the army in its fight against the jihadists.

(See again : Burkina Faso: the army recruits massively to fight against jihadism