Burkina Faso: Eleven soldiers dead in attack on army base

The country has become the latest epicentre of a shifting conflict in the Sahel.

Eleven soldiers have been killed and nearly two dozen injured in an attack on a military base in eastern Burkina Faso, authorities said.

Injured soldiers were taken to hospital and aerial support killed 15 attackers trying to flee after Thursday’s attack in Madjoari in Kompienga province, the army said in a statement on Friday.

For six years, the West African country has been ravaged by violence from armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), causing thousands of deaths and displacement of nearly two million people.

It has become the latest epicentre of a shifting conflict in the Sahel.

In January, mutinous soldiers removed the democratically elected president promising to stem the violence, but since then attacks have increased.

Within a 72-hour period last week, nearly 60 people, including civilians and security forces, were killed in violence targeting villages in four regions across the country, according to an internal security report for aid workers seen by The Associated Press news agency.

“This attack in Madjoari is yet another indication of militants’ capability to target security forces’ bases and unfortunately showing the severity of [the] security situation in northern and eastern regions,” said Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan-based organisation focused on economics and policy.