Burkina Faso: 5 people killed in a jihadist attack

Five people, including two soldiers, were killed Thursday in an attack by suspected jihadists in eastern Burkina Faso, AFP learned on Friday from security and local sources.

Thursday, "more than a hundred armed men attacked the locality of Partiaga, in the province of Tapoa (east). Unfortunately, five people, three civilians, and two soldiers, fell," said a security source.

According to this same source, "more than fifteen terrorists were neutralized" by soldiers and volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP, civilian auxiliaries of the army).

A resident of Partiaga also spoke of a toll of "five dead during the attack". "In their flight after the response of the army, the terrorists set fire to attics (food) and houses," said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Thursday morning, members of civil society and other socio-professional and religious organizations in the province of Tapoa, meeting in Diapaga, its capital, in a statement read to the local press, called on the authorities to "act for loosen the grip of armed terrorist groups" on the municipalities of the province to "avoid the worst".

"The last few weeks have not been easy for us at all. More than 50 people have been killed by people we have not yet identified and who continue to make us fear the worst," lamented their spokesperson, Kondjoa Pierre Yonli.

According to him, the administration only operates in two towns in the province, Diapaga, and Kantchari. "All the other municipalities are under the influence of terrorists who dictate their laws to the poor populations forced to submit to the will of the new strong men of the moment", he indicated.

Deadly raids attributed to jihadists have multiplied in recent weeks in Burkina. About 60 people died last week and 50 the previous week, according to an AFP count.

Burkina Faso, the scene of two military coups in 2022, has been caught since 2015 in a spiral of jihadist violence that appeared in Mali and Niger a few years earlier and which has spread beyond their borders.

The violence left more than 10,000 dead - civilians and soldiers - according to NGOs, and some two million displaced.