At least 28 gendarmes and four civilians were killed Sunday in what became known as the Jihadist offensive against a body contingent in Inata, north of Burkina Faso, according to a new official death toll released Monday.
The new, still provisional report, “speaks of 28 gendarmes and 4 civilians dead,” according to a government statement. The previous official report, released on Sunday, spoke of 20 dead, 19 gendarmes and one civilian (24932680).
The government clarified that 27 gendarmes were found safe. The gendarmerie squad in Inata, a town in the Sahel region near the border with Mali, had between 100 and 150 men, according to local sources.
The attack was one of the deadliest against Burkina Faso’s security and defense forces in the past six years, after the country was confronted with jihadist activity mainly in its northern part.
The Minister of Security, Maxim Kone, said yesterday Sunday on the public radio that the gendarmes who suffered the attack “resisted, fought bravely”.
A source close to the security forces told Agence France-Presse that the attack in the province of Sum was carried out by “a large number of gunmen”, who were moving with “trucks and motorcycles”. He added that the battle was long.
“We must stand united and determined in the face of the forces of evil that are imposing a ruthless war on us,” President Rock Marc Christian Cabore reacted via Twitter yesterday.
“We will not allow the foundations of our nation to be undermined,” he added, paying tribute to members of the gendarmerie who “fell into the realm of honor.”
Three days of national mourning were declared for 72 hours, from today Tuesday to the day after Thursday.
Last Friday, seven police officers were killed and five others were injured in Alkoma, in the neighboring province of Seno, in northeastern Burkina Faso, police said.
Burkina Faso, a poor country in West Africa, has been facing increasingly frequent and deadly attacks and ambushes by jihadist organizations since 2015, especially in its northern and eastern parts of the so-called “tri-border” zone, as well as in neighboring countries. Mali and Niger.
The actions of jihadist groups swearing allegiance to either Islamic State (IS) or al-Qaeda, combined with inter-ethnic and inter-ethnic violence, have claimed the lives of at least 2,000 people and forced more than 1.4 million people to flee. others to leave their homes, according to official figures.
Last Tuesday, the opposition in Burkina Faso called for “urgent action” in the face of a “deteriorating security situation” as jihadist attacks flared up; otherwise threatened to take to the streets to demand an “immediate resignation” “by President Cabore.
The head of state put the “fight against terrorism” at the heart of his campaign in 2020, when he was re-elected for a second consecutive five-year term.
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Source From: Capital
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