41 killed by suspected Jihadists – Burkina Faso

41 killed by suspected Jihadists – Burkina Faso

The government of Burkina Faso has announced two days of mourning, beginning on Sunday, after 41 people were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in the country’s turbulent north.

“The toll of 41 bodies has been established by a search effort in the location of an ambush by armed terrorist groups.” “The president has declared 48 hours of national mourning,” according to a government statement released on Saturday evening.

Members of an official self-defense organization known as the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), established up to support the army, were among the dead, according to the government.

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Volunteers are trained for 14 days before being sent out on patrols and surveillance missions with light weapons.

Ladji Yoro, a leader of the VDP in Burkina Faso, was one of the casualties of Thursday’s attack, according to the statement.

“The victims are still being identified,” the administration said in a statement.

The attack targeted a caravan of traders accompanied by VDP near Ouahigouya, a town close to the Mali border, according to local media.

Ghana shares borders with border with Burkina Faso to the North. The West African nation has been battling with these terrorist groups for the past few years now.

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The attack was the bloodiest since 57 people, including 53 gendarmes, were attacked and killed in mid-November.

Burkina Faso, like its neighbors Mali and Niger, has been engulfed in a spiral of violence since 2015, which has been blamed on Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group.

At least 2,000 individuals have died as a result of the violence, and 1.4 million people have been displaced.

Source: today.ng