Three soldiers and 11 suspected jihadists were killed when an army unit came under fire in northern Burkina Faso, the military said on Thursday.   The detachment in Thiou, in the northern province of Yatenga, was attacked early Wednesday, military headquarters said in a statement.  The troops “neutralised 11 terrorists” for the cost of three dead and around 10 wounded, it said, using a term routinely applied to jihadists.  Ground-based reinforcements were brought in, with air support, to evacuate the wounded and secure the area, it added.

Groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have plagued the landlocked Sahel nation since 2015, killing about 2,000 people and displacing 1.4 million from their homes.  The latest attack brings the number of fatalities among civilians and the security forces in northern Burkina to at least 79 in 11 days. On November 14, more than 300 fighters aboard pickups and motorcycles stormed a gendarmerie camp at Inata, according to military sources. Fifty-three police and four others died, according to official figures. It was the biggest one-day loss among the security forces in the history of the insurgency. On Sunday, at least nine gendarmes and around 10 civilians were killed in Foube.