At least 51 Burkinabe soldiers were killed last weekend when insurgents raided the same area bordering Mali.
A new attack on a Burkina Faso army position on Monday, February 20, 2023, when gunmen targeted a section of the 11th Infantry Commando Regiment (RIC), based in Tin-Akoff, in the Oudalan region along the border with Mali, according to reliable sources.
The provisional, unofficial toll suggests 19 soldiers killed and about 30 others missing, a military source said.
The same source indicated that army reinforcements from Special Forces supported by the air force have been dispatched to the scene of attack while searches are underway.
Within 72 hours, at least 70 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in the same area.
At least 51 soldiers died in an ambush by gunmen between Oursi and Deou in the Sahel region on Friday, February 17, 2023, the army reported in a new report Monday afternoon.
According to the Army General Staff, nearly two hundred insurgents have been neutralised and war materials destroyed during a sweeping operation in the area.
In a message posted on social media, junta leader Ibrahim Traore praised the “vigorous resistance and response” by government troops.
“The struggle is bitter, the fight is full of pitfalls, but our patriotic surge and our determination remain intact until the final victory,” Captain Traore insisted.
In mid-January, he acknowledged to students at the Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou that terrorist attacks had multiplied since his came to power last September .
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been caught up in a jihadist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced nearly two million more.
DS/te/fss/as/APA
