No fewer than 33 soldiers were on Thursday killed by suspected jihadist terrorists in fresh bloody attack in eastern Burkina Faso, the West African country’s military said in a statement on Friday.
“The military detachment of Ougarou, in the eastern region, faced a large-scale complex attack on Thursday morning,” the military statement said.
“Thirty-three of our soldiers, unfortunately, fell with their weapons in their hands, while twelve others were wounded.
“During the fighting, which was particularly intense, the soldiers of the detachment showed remarkable determination in the face of an enemy that came in very large numbers and managed to neutralize at least forty terrorists before the arrival of reinforcements,” the statement added.
The fresh attack is coming barely one week after terrorists attacked the Karma village in the north of the country on April 20 where more than 60 civilians were massacred.
Before the Karma attack, there had been a series of attacks by the jihadists in different regions of the country, especially in the month of April.
On April 18, at least 24 people, including 20 civilian army replacements, were killed in two attacks by suspected jihadists in the east-central region.
Also on April 15, six soldiers and 34 civilian auxiliaries were killed in the north during an assault on their detachment.
So far, more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers have been killed over the past seven years, according to human rights bodies, while over two million people have been displaced by the violence.
The country has also been thrown into turmoil, with the United Nations recently reporting that over 60% of its territory was in the hands of the terrorists.
Burkina Faso also witnessed two military coups in 2022, and has been caught in a spiral of jihadist violence since 2015.