At least 35 non-combatants were killed and 37 were maimed in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
on Monday after the vehicle they were traveling in struck an improvised bomb.
The attack occured in an area where Islamist gunnies have escalated attacks on villages, police and military outposts since 2015.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ATTACK
The escorted supply convoy was heading to the capital, Ouagadougou. "The victims are mainly traders who were going to buy supplies in Ouagadougou and students who were returning to the capital for the next school year," the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.
The convoy hit the bomb between the northern towns of Djibo and Bourzanga, the interim government said in a statement.
| As far as I can tell, that’s in north-central Burkina Faso, territory of the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), one of the local groups within Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM), the regional umbrella affiliated with Al Qaeda in North Africa. |
Jihadist groups have recently carried out similar attacks on arterial roads leading to the northern capitals of Dori and Djibo. In early August, 15 soldiers died in a double explosion in the same area.
WHAT IS THE INTERNAL CONFLICT IN BURKINA FASO?
The seven-year insurgency has killed more than 2,000 people and forced some 1.9 million to flee.
Fighting is concentrated in the north and east, led by jihadists suspected of having links to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, nearly one in 10 people in Burkina Faso has been displaced by conflict and severe food insecurity has almost doubled compared to 2021.
Since last year, Burkina Faso has become the epicenter of violence, with more deadly attacks than in neighboring Mali or Niger in 2021, according to NGO Acled.
More than 40% of the country is outside the control of the military government, which took power in January. It has made countering the insurgency its top priority.