BURKINA FASO
A Rising Emergency
Islamist extremists killed at least 24 soldiers in northern Burkina Faso in one of the deadliest such attacks ever to hit the West African nation, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said Tuesday.
“It is a record that saddens us both at the level of the people of Burkina Faso in general, and at the level of the government in particular,” Kabore said, the Associated Press reported.
Seven more soldiers were wounded and another five are missing, according to Al Jazeera.
So far, the country has not identified a particular group as the perpetrators, but a source in the security establishment told AFP that it appeared to be a “well-prepared” and “coordinated” assault by a heavily armed force.
Extremist violence has been increasing in Burkina Faso, where such attacks have already killed hundreds of people and prompted thousands more to flee their homes. The government declared a state of emergency last year, and in May Kabore’s foreign minister warned that the problem is growing throughout the Sahel region, which includes Mali, Niger and Chad, and could soon destabilize West Africa.
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