At least thirty-one soldiers and three army auxiliaries were killed Monday, June 26 in an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, the army announced on Tuesday, security sources having told Agence France- Press (AFP) that another attack left dozens dead.

“A supply convoy escorted by military units, returning from Djibo”, a city besieged for months by jihadists in the Sahel region (North), was on Monday “the target of an ambush” in Namsiguia, in the Center-North region, according to a press release from the Burkinabe army.

“The fighting, particularly violent, caused significant losses, despite the vigorous response of the units”, he adds, speaking of a “provisional assessment” of thirty-one soldiers and three Volunteers for the defense of the homeland (VDP, civilian army auxiliaries) killed, while “ten elements are still wanted by the reinforcements” dispatched to the scene. According to the army, “more than forty terrorists have been neutralized”.

The army does not mention in its press release another attack, committed Monday in the same region, which, according to security sources at AFP, also caused “dozens of deaths”, the majority of VDPs.

“Terrorist groups attacked the village of Noaka”, in the Center-North region, “mainly targeting VDPs”, according to one of these sources. “We lost dozens of men in Noaka and several are injured,” said a local VDP official. “Several other fighters are still missing,” he said.

Resurgence of jihadist attacks

According to a resident of the area, “it was a massacre that took place in Noaka”, estimating at “about thirty” the number of VDPs killed during this attack and evoking “many injuries”. “The valiant fighters, supported by the army, also made it possible to inflict a heavy loss on the attackers”, he added, also speaking of “several motorcycles and [d]armament recovered”.

The local VDP official also claimed that another attack occurred on Monday in Gayéri, in the province of Komondjari (East); four army auxiliaries were killed there.

The populations of Tanwalbougou (East) had demonstrated the same day against the resurgence of jihadist attacks, calling for a supply of their locality under blockade of armed groups for several weeks, according to residents.

Burkina 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 has caused the death of more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers over the past eight years, according to NGOs, and the displacement of more than 2 million on national territory. The country has been ruled since last September by a military junta, with Captain Ibrahim Traoré at its head, following a coup, the second in eight months.