Eleven soldiers and 15 gunmen were killed in a suspected extremist attack in eastern Burkina Faso, the army revealed on Friday.
“A complex attack — shells fired, followed by direct fire on the base” in Madjoari in the Kompienga province, it said in a statement. “Eleven soldiers lost their lives… (and) at least 20” wounded, it said.
Army warplanes helped to “neutralise at least 15 terrorists who were trying to escape after the attack,” it said.
On Saturday, authorities reported that around 40 people – many of them civilian volunteers with the army – were killed in three suspected extremist attacks in the same regions.
On his part, the new head of state, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, affirmed that he has made the security crisis his “priority”.
Damiba overthrew elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore in January, accusing him of being ineffective in the face of extremist violence.
After a relative lull when Damiba took power, a surge in attacks has claimed almost 200 lives.
