30 KILLED IN ATTACK BY ARMED GROUPS IN BURKINA FASO

Mon 14 March 2022:

According to the mayor of a village in northern Burkina Faso, armed gunmen killed at least eight people who were collecting water.

The tragedy, which occurred early Monday morning, brought the total number of people slain in the restive area to more than 30 in three days of violence.

The incident occurred in Arbinda, in the province of Soum, which has been the target of multiple deadly incursions by armed factions linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) that have been vying for control of a stretch of desert land where Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger for years.

According to Mayor Boureima Werem, gunmen have begun targeting water towers and pumps in recent weeks, which appears to be a new tactic.

At least 15 people were killed in separate incidents in northern Burkina Faso on Sunday, including 13 military police officers, according to the military police, and nine people were slain in an assault on an informal gold mine in the province of Oudalan on Saturday, according to a security source.

Thousands of people have been slain and more than 2 million people have been forced to evacuate their homes in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert as a result of a violent campaign.

Despite the deployment of thousands of foreign forces, killings have continued, weakening trust in the region’s elected governments.

Protests in Burkina Faso resulted in a military coup in January as a result of frustration with the lack of government authority. Soldiers took control of Mali in August 2020.

Fighting broke out in Mali’s desert north in 2012, forcing France to intervene the following year in an attempt to force the jihadists back. However, in recent years, the fighters have regrouped and seized territory.

In June of this year, 19 people were killed in an incident in Arbinda.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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