Burkina Faso: 3 policemen killed in police station attack near Mali

Three policemen were killed Tuesday night in an attack on a police station by unidentified assailants in northern Burkina Faso, a few kilometers from the border with Mali, the government announced on Wednesday.

“On Tuesday night, a border police post located at Intangom, 4 km from the Malian border in the province of Oudalan was attacked by unidentified individuals. During the attack, three policemen were killed and property damaged,” the government statement said.

In an interview with AFP earlier, a senior executive of the province of Oudalan said the attackers were about four and fled into Mali after the attack taking with them weapons belonging to the police.

The Minister of Internal Security, Simon Compaore, said a manhunt has been launched to find the attackers while calling on the population to be calm and report any suspicious movements to the security forces.

This is the second attack on a police station of the same kind in less than two weeks near the Mali border. Two policemen were injured in the May 17 attack in koutoukou, a town in the province of Soum.