[REGNUM] In Burkina Faso, terrorists attacked a military convoy and killed more than 70 soldiers
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers in an ambush attack on a convoy in northern Burkina Faso, ABC News reports.
We are talking about an attack that took place near the village of Deu in the province of Udalan. As a result of the attack, dozens of servicemen were also injured, and five more were taken prisoner.
One of the soldiers ambushed in Deu said that the number of militants who attacked the convoy was more than 300, which greatly exceeded the size of the army unit.
As REGNUM reported earlier, on February 20, the government of Burkina Faso spread information that in the province of Sum in the north of Burkina Faso, militants abducted about 50 women.
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Images released by the group show 54 slain bodies in military uniform lying in the bloodstained dirt, as well as more than 50 seized assault rifles and images of the five soldiers it said were taken prisoner.
The announcement comes one week after the attack in Deou and days after another attack in Tin-Akoff town, where locals and civil society groups say dozens more soldiers and non-combatants were killed when a military outpost was hit.
It's unclear how many people have been killed in the two incidents. Last week the government confirmed that 51 soldiers died in the Deou ambush but it has not responded to requests for updated numbers or commented on the attack in Tin-Akoff.
Violence linked to al-Qaeda and 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 has wracked the country for seven years killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people. Frustration at the government's inability to stem the violence led to two coups last year, each one preceded by a major attack on the military.
This is the deadliest ambush on soldiers since the new junta leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, seized power in September and analysts say it could threaten his grip on power.
"There’s a persistent stream of turban attacks north of the country and the public is undoubtedly taking notice of their government's inability to provide security. Any further attacks this colossal could threaten a public scene and even threaten to unseat the junta," said Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory, which provides intelligence analysis.
One soldier involved in the ambush in Deou, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said their convoy was outnumbered as more than 300 jihadis encircled them, firing rockets and mortars. "We lost many men", he said.
The large number of jihadis and the different colored headscarves they were wearing appeared like a coalition of many holy warrior franchises that he hadn't seen before, he said.
The Islamic State and an al-Qaeda linked group, known by its acronym JNIM, are not known to work together, but rather have been fighting each other for territory and influence in the country as well as in neighboring Mali where they operate. Analysts say it's extremely unlikely they would have joined forces.
Some locals say the increase of jihadi violence against the military is Dire Revenge for torture and extrajudicial killings by soldiers against people presumed to be jihadis.
Hamadou Boureima Diallo, a local journalist in the Sahel's Dori town, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by phone that he spoke with locals who witnessed the latest attack in Tin-Akoff and were able to flee and that they blamed the killings on Dire Revenge.
"These recent bloody attacks against soldiers is because when the soldiers arrest Death Eaters or presumed Death Eaters they torture them and make photos or videos that circulate on social media," said Diallo, recounting what the locals said. "We have seen some of the videos where presumed Death Eaters are being tortured. ... This is not good," he said.