Sahel Edition

Sahel: Attack kills dozen soldiers in the troubled Bourzanga region of northern BurkinaF

Posted On 5 August 2022

Number of times this article was read : 508

Suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso have killed four soldiers and nine civilian auxiliaries, the army said on Friday.  The attack on Thursday by “an armed terrorist group” in Bourzanga district also wounded 10 others, military headquarters said in a statement.  “At least 34 terrorists” were killed, it said.  Security sources and an official with the auxiliary VDP militia had earlier reported simultaneous attacks in Bourzanga, and given a death toll of three soldiers and nine auxiliaries.

The landlocked Sahel state is wrestling with a seven-year-old jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and driven some two million people from their homes.  More than 40 percent of the country is no longer under government control, according to official figures.  Colonels staged a coup in January and have vowed to restore security.   But after a lull, attacks resumed and have escalated in recent months. On June 11, 86 people were massacred at Seytenga in the northwest, in one of the bloodiest acts of the long-running insurgency.  Thirty-four villagers were killed on July 2 and 3 in the north and northwest.

The VDP — Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland — has borne the brunt of attacks on the security forces.   The force, set up in December 2019, comprises civilian volunteers who are given two weeks’ military training and then work alongside the army, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.   A VDP source said that in the latest attack in Bourzanga district, six militiamen were killed in the village of Alga and three in Boulounga, while “several attackers were also killed.”

The Seytenga attack prompted the authorities to set up two “zones of military interest” in the worst-hit regions of the north and east.  The idea is to have zones that are banned for civilians, giving the armed forces freer range to attack jihadists. But on Wednesday, the army admitted that civilians had been killed during an air strike in the east.  It gave no toll, but local inhabitants told AFP that about 30 people, most of them women who had gone to attend ceremonies to inaugurate a mill, had died.

AFP

More on the Sahel

Mali: Bamako Under Siege$

Bamako is facing mounting pressure as jihadist group JNIM expands its campaign beyond military operations and increasingly targets the economic lifelines connecting Mali’s capital to the rest of West Africa. Attacks on highways, freight traffic, and commercial transport corridors have disrupted trade, affected regional commerce, and raised concerns about the government’s ability to maintain security and economic stability.

German Think Tank Accuses the UAE of Destabilizing Africa$

A report published by Germany’s Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik accuses the United Arab Emirates of playing a destabilizing role in several African conflicts through support for armed groups, logistical networks, and regional interventions. The report focuses particularly on Sudan, Libya, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, while also criticizing Western governments for avoiding direct public criticism of Abu Dhabi.

Mali: After Kidal, The War Comes to Bamako$

Mali’s military government lost Kidal to a joint FLA-JNIM offensive on April 26, 2026, after Russian Africa Corps personnel and Malian troops withdrew under rebel escort. The fall of the city, retaken by Bamako with Russian support in November 2023, exposes the limits of the junta’s sovereignty narrative and raises serious questions about the durability of Mali’s security model.