Suspected Islamist militants launched a series of coordinated attacks on army positions in northern and eastern Burkina Faso over four days, killing at least 10 people and destroying parts of military installations, security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The latest assault occurred Sunday in the northern town of Nare, where militants targeted a military detachment, according to two security sources. A day earlier, an army unit in the northern city of Titao was attacked by what one source described as “several hundred terrorists,” resulting in significant damage to part of the base. No official death toll has been released for those incidents.
On Saturday, another army base in Tandjari, in eastern Burkina Faso, was also attacked, with several officers reportedly killed. Last week, on Thursday, a military detachment in Bilanga, also in the east, was overrun. Around 10 soldiers and civilian volunteers fighting alongside the army were killed, a security source said, adding that much of the base was ransacked and the assailants remained in the town until the following day.
Social media accounts have claimed that dozens of soldiers may have been killed in the recent violence, but media have been unable to independently verify those reports.
The attacks come amid growing concerns of coordination among jihadist groups operating in the country. “This series of attacks is not a coincidence,” one security source said, suggesting a pattern of organized action.
Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since a 2022 coup, has struggled for more than a decade with insurgent violence linked to groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The junta seized power promising to restore security but has since limited public communication regarding jihadist attacks.
The unrest has also had regional repercussions. The interior minister of neighboring Ghana said authorities had received disturbing reports that a truck carrying Ghanaian tomato traders was caught up in the attack in Titao.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the violence in Burkina Faso has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers since 2015, with more than half of those deaths occurring in the past three years.
Despite repeated pledges by the junta to curb the insurgency, Burkina Faso remains entrenched in a deepening security crisis marked by frequent and increasingly coordinated attacks on military targets.
Additional reporting by AFP