Jihadist Attacks in Burkina Faso Kill More Than 80 People as Security Situation Worsens

A demonstrator holds a placard during a march called by the opposition to protest against the security situation worsening and asking for a response to jihadist attacks, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on July 3, 2021. Olympia de Maismont/AFP via Getty Images

An attack by unidentified assailants in northern Burkina Faso on army and volunteer defense forces on April 15 left 40 people dead and 33 others wounded, the West African nation’s transitional leadership confirmed in a statement.

The government said the attack was carried out by “unidentified armed men” in Aorema village in the Yatenga province near the border with Mali. The area is overrun by fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS militants.

The detachment that came under attack was reportedly deployed to maintain security at an aerodrome in Ouahigouya, the provincial capital. Eight soldiers and 32 civilian volunteers were killed, the government said in the statement.

At least 50 attackers were killed, 30 others wounded, and equipment was destroyed in the reprisal attack that followed, the army said in an April 16 statement seen by The Epoch Times.

People take part in a march called by the opposition to protest against the security situation worsening and asking for a response to jihadist attacks, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on July 3, 2021. Olympia de Maismont/AFP via Getty Images

“Air reinforcements were also deployed, making it possible to intercept and destroy a terrorist column trying to exfiltrate,” it said.

Early on April 16, assailants attacked another military detachment in Kongoussi, the capital of the northwestern Bam province, killing two soldiers and leaving two others injured. The army said in the statement that it successfully repelled the attack, killing at least 20 of the attackers and destroying 30 motorcycles.

Last weekend’s separate attacks became just the latest data point in a resurgence of similar attacks in the Sahel country, which is grappling with a seven-year-old campaign by jihadists.

Forty-four civilians were killed by suspected armed terrorist groups in the northeastern Burkina Faso villages of Kourakou and Tondobi, near the Niger border on April 6.

Rodolphe Sorgho, lieutenant governor of the Sahel region, described the killings as “despicable” and “barbaric,” adding that an army offensive succeeded in “putting out of action” the armed terrorist groups that had carried out the attacks.

The twin attacks happened close to the village of Seytenga, where 86 civilians were killed in June 2022 in one of the bloodiest attacks of a long-running insurgency.

Meanwhile, on Feb. 17, 51 soldiers were killed in an ambush at Deou, in the far north.

Analyst Says Attacks No Surprise

The latest wave of killings didn’t come as a surprise to Olusegun Alabi, a political science lecturer at Osun State College of Education in Nigeria.

“The current topsy-turvydom in Burkina Faso was predictable because of the trend in the metastasis of the scourge,” he told The Epoch Times. "The security and political woes of Burkina Faso are intertwined. Very symbiotic in nature.

“The ground for the spread of jihadi insurgency was created by the country’s debile [feeble] economy, very low per capita income, harsh climatic conditions, pervasive socioeconomic inequalities, and poor, alienated leadership.”

The end result, Alabi says, is that “locals [are] easily susceptible to the propaganda and the manipulations of the jihadists.”

Burkina Faso has been increasingly exposed to the threats and attacks of violent armed jihadist groups since beginning their campaign from neighboring Mali in 2015.

Children sit in the shadow of a tree in Goudebou, a camp that welcomes more than 11,000 Malian refugees in northern Burkina Faso, on International Refugee Day on June 20, 2021. Olympia de Maismont/AFP via Getty Images

The northern parts of the country, which border Mali and Niger, are particularly at risk as a result of conflict spillover.

In September 2022, the country suffered its second coup in less than nine months, when a 34-year-old army captain, Ibrahim Traoré, seized power. He ousted Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who led a coup in January, toppling then-President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.

Jihadist-inspired terrorist groups are wreaking havoc in Burkina Faso’s northern regions, controlling large swaths of territory, especially in the countryside where the central government has limited control.

The government controls slightly more than 50 percent of the country’s territory, and the actual figure could be lower, according to estimates.

The West African country recorded 1,135 deaths attributed to terrorists in 2022, a 50 percent jump from 2021, according to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index.

With jihadist violence rising in Burkina Faso, the United States is preparing to send long-term assistance to neighboring countries of Ivory Coast, Benin, and Togo.

Washington believes that violence could spill into coastal West Africa and destabilize the region.

“It’s a significant and burgeoning threat,” Michael Heath, deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of West Africa, recently told AFP.

“It’s something of concern to us because of the capabilities of the governments in place—they’ve never faced a threat like this before.”

On April 4, the United Nations and partners said a staggering 4.7 million people in Burkina Faso—a fifth of the population—will need humanitarian assistance this year as an $877 million response plan was announced to meet urgent needs.

Jihadist Groups Entrench Roots

The two main Salafi-Jihadist organizations operating in Burkina Faso are the ISIS Sahel Province (IS-Sahel) and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

The latter, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, was created in Mali in 2017 as a union of four different groups: al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Murabitoun, Ansar al-Dine, and the Macina Liberation Front.

IS-Sahel, which was formerly known as ISIS in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), has been operating in the region under the Islamic State’s banner since 2016.

“In broader terms, as with all Al-Qaeda and ‘Islamic State’s’ affiliates, JNIM and IS-Sahel strive to establish an Islamic state under sharia law in adherence to their parent organizations’ long-term vision,” Daniel Matan, a researcher at the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), an Israeli-based research group that tracks both ISIS and al-Qaeda, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We can’t determine the level of involvement of Al-Qaeda and the ‘Islamic State’ in their activities yet,” he wrote, “but JNIM and IS-Sahel are largely self-sufficient in terms of manpower, weapons, and other resources, and rely on local or regional sources.”

Matan is skeptical that these Salafi-Jihadists have the support and sympathy of local communities.

Whatever the case, he says, the organizations operate in the northern and eastern parts of Burkina Faso, where the majority of the population is Muslim and therefore can provide a source of support, “but this also likely means that the majority of the casualties as a result of their activities are Muslims.”

More than 10,000 civilians, troops, and police have been killed in Burkina Faso and at least 2 million other people displaced since jihadists launched their campaign in 2015.

Since junta leader Traore seized power in September 2022, the activities of all political parties and civil society organizations in the country have been suspended.

Inadequate Military Firepower 

In response to the string of insurgent attacks since the start of the year, Burkina Faso’s new military chief, Célestin Simporé, on April 6 vowed to step up a “dynamic offensive” against jihadists during a handover ceremony following his appointment.

He promised that the offensive underway in the past few weeks will be stepped up to “force armed groups to lay down their weapons.”

But Burkina Faso’s security forces are largely seen to be inadequately equipped and lacking the sufficient operational capacity to perform their duties in line with the country and population’s needs.

The recent terror attacks in Burkina Faso may just be the tip of an iceberg, given that its government lacks “robust counterterrorism capabilities to meet the Islamist threat.” Nna-Emeka Okereke, an expert on African affairs and regional security in West and Central Africa, told The Epoch Times by phone from Abuja, Nigeria.

“The land area is too vast [274,220 square km] and the population is small [22.1 million],” he said.

“So, there exists vast uninhabited and under-governed spaces which serve as [a] sanctuary for the terrorists.”

Past, Current Leaders to Blame: Analyst

Moreover, there exists “deep-rooted animosity of the population towards the Fulani,” who form bulk membership of ISIS in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) amid other local grievances breeding terrorism, according to Nna-Emeka.

“Then, the existence of active terrorist groups in neighboring countries feeds the domestic contradictions.”

ITIC’s Matan agrees and blames the country’s past and present leaders for its current security woes.

“Political instability, manifested by the recent changes in power in Burkina Faso, usually result in [the] ”purging“ of the security forces and a subsequent decrease of efficiency in their ability to tackle terrorist activities and defend the local population,” he told The Epoch Times.

He notes that most of the attacks in Burkina Faso are ambushes of military and civilian convoys and raids of military installations, villages, or other population centers.

Usually, this kind of operation requires low-tech weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns, and in some cases, armed mounted trucks along with motorcycles.

“In case of an ambush, mines and improvised explosive devices [IEDs] are also used. This modus operandi is similar to other Salafi-Jihadist organizations in Africa such as ISWAP in the Lake Chad region or IS-Mozambique,” Matan said.

On April 13, the transitional authorities in Burkina Faso declared a “general mobilization” to give the state all means necessary to deal with the jihadist attacks.

The Defense Ministry had launched an operation called “Empty Granaries,” calling on all the country’s military personnel, active or retired, to donate their uniforms for the soldiers currently on the ground.

France Pulls Out, Russia Steps In

France has had mixed fortunes fighting terrorism in the Sahel since 2013.

Matan said Salafi-Jihadist organizations have since strengthened significantly despite several French-led operations and other anti-terror endeavors.

“There is also an anti-French sentiment amongst the Burkinabe population regarding the true reason for France’s involvement in the country, which some believe [are] for self-gained economic benefits.”

Earlier this year, Burkina Faso’s former colonial ruler, France, confirmed that it was withdrawing its troops stationed in the country.

The announcement came weeks after Burkina Faso’s junta ousted hundreds of French troops, signs appeared that the West African country could be moving closer to Russia, including the Wagner Group mercenary outfit.

But the country’s leaders deny having any ties with the Wagner Group.

“In Africa, the Wagner Group is occasionally resorting to violent measures against civilian populations who are suspected of aiding the enemy [as was shown since the start of their operations in Mali],” Matan said.

Demonstrators hold a placard in a march called by the opposition to protest against the security situation worsening and asking for a response to jihadist attacks, in Ouagadougou, on July 3, 2021. Olympia de Maismont/AFP via Getty Images

“This is an unproven tactic of tackling the jihadist organizations or the civilian support for them. Moreover, it is likely counter-productive for this effort.”

But Nna-Emeka thinks linking with the Wagner Group is the natural consequence of breaking links with France as the country “still needs that strong strategic partnership to counter the real threat to the Burkina state.”

However, political analyst Olusegun insists Burkina Faso moving closer to Russia amid the French pullout won’t bring “any substantial change.”

“Until the opportunistic factors are addressed, the whole scenario is just a change of guards,” he told The Epoch Times.

“The political class in Africa at large, including Burkina Faso, should be excoriated for being flatfooted, insouciant, and lackadaisical as they are more engrossed in power calculus than national security and stability in most cases.”

The peoples of Africa including Burkina Faso are good at “scapegoatism” according to Olusegun.

“Here, they have been holding France responsible for their past woes. After some time,  they will celebrate the exit of the Wagner Group. It is a [vicious] cycle!”