Eight civilians who had fought for a relief army militia were killed. Six other civilians were killed in another attack near Markoye. “The terrorists kidnapped three young people on the road from Salmossi to Markoye, who were later found dead in the bush,” said a relative of one of the victims. “They robbed several people and took away vehicles.”
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has seen repeated attacks by jihadist groups, some of which collaborate with the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda. Several thousand soldiers and civilians have already been killed in the conflict and about two million people have been displaced from their homes.
The deteriorating security situation was used by coup leaders as justification for two coups in January and September. In September, a group of military officials led by the current interim president, Ibrahim Traoré, announced the ouster of Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who himself seized power in a January coup.
In October, a campaign was launched in Burkina Faso to recruit 50,000 civilians to fight jihadists. Traoré has set himself the goal of “taking back the territories occupied by these hordes of terrorists”.
(SDA)