Two police posts in Burkina Faso were attacked by jihadists on Monday
night, officials said, just months after 12 soldiers were killed by
militants in a raid near the Mali border.
It was unclear whether there had been any casualties from the latest
attack, which took place in Soum province in the country’s north,
security minister Simon Compaore told AFP.
Two other security sources told AFP jihadists were behind the attack.
“The attacks took place almost simultaneously,” said Mohamed Dah, Soum
police high commissioner. “Gunfire has ceased but the assailants are
still at the scene. We’ve dispatched military reinforcements.”
“We’re trying to find out if this is a diversion tactic, used to (get
us to) mobilise security forces and then attack more important
targets,” he said.
Another security source, who did not wish to be named, said the
attack at one post began when “a dozen jihadis arrived on six
motorbikes”.
The incident comes with the capital Ouagadougou on high security
alert as it hosts the 25th Pan-African Film and Television Festival,
with scores of cinephiles and international visitors in town.
Long spared the Islamist violence affecting several nations in the
region, notably Mali and Niger, Burkina has been hit by a series of
attacks and kidnappings since April 2015.
Most of the raids have occurred near the northern border, but in
January 2016, 30 people were killed and 71 wounded in the capital
Ouagadougou after gunmen stormed a restaurant and a four-star hotel,
taking hostages.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the
attacks, which ended after Burkinabe troops and French counterterrorist
forces posted in the country staged an offensive.
On December 12, jihadists killed 12 soldiers in an attack against an
army squad about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Mali frontier.
The raid — the deadliest ever against Burkina Faso’s military —
caused a public outcry, with some calling for the sacking of a military
leadership accused of failing to match up to the jihadist threat.
No comments:
Post a Comment